Onions make everything better.
In my opinion they make every dish more flavorful and delicious. They are also packed with bunches of beneficial micro and phytonutrients. But the problem with onions is that having to chop them can bring you to tears (literally) on a hectic busy weekday evening. This causes many well meaning people to just leave the onion out all together, which will lead to B meals (bland, boring and blah). I don’t want this for you! Another unfortunate by-product of this cycle is that some people will substitute onion powder or onion salt. While these have their place in some recipes and dishes , they really are a poor substitution for the real thing. Finally, and this is very important…onions are some of the most healthful and nutrient dense foods we can add to our diets. Research suggests that onions have properties that help boost our immune system, improve blood sugar regulation, and decrease inflammation and cardiovascular risk.
Ok, now that you know the whys of adding more onions to your diet…what about the how?
One of my favorite tips to make life easier in the kitchen, is to chop all my onion at one time. This way I always have it when I need it and fresh onion keeps well in your fridge for 1-2 weeks or you can freeze it for more gradual use.
I suggest you prepare all your onions before you start chopping. First I cut the ends off, slice them in half and finally remove the papery skin from the outside. This will decrease the amount of papery skin that ends up in your prepared onion. As with everything in life, onion chopping is a learned skill and takes practice. This amount of onions probably takes me less than 5 minutes to chop, but don’t be discouraged if it takes you longer…you will get there!
As you can see, I am not an onion chopping perfectionist, most of the onion I use goes into cooked dishes, so they don’t have to be perfectly diced. But I do my best 🙂 If you or someone you are cooking for has a onion texture aversion, dicing them as small as possible is very advantageous. Also, using a food processor is always helpful to speed up the process, just avoid making it into onion juice (which is yucky and doesn’t store very well.)
I use a gallon sized zip lock bag to store my chopped onions, because it takes up little room in my overly stuffed fridge. And because of the antibacterial properties of onions, I just rinse out my empty bag and reuse it week after week…until the bag starts to fall apart:~1-2ish months of use or it disappears off my counter while I am chopping (I blame the children).
**One note of caution… if you are using raw meat in the preparation of your meals, be careful not to cross contaminate your pre-prepared onions with raw meat juice (yuck). I bring this up because I was not careful and accidently touched the onion bag with my “meaty”hands and had to throw whole bag away. 🙁 Better safe than sorry with bacterial cross contamination.
And Finally…Don’t forget your goggles!
Goggles, my secret kitchen weapon!
My eyes are very sensitive onion juice and I can hardly chop one onion without an out-of-control crying session. I have tried all sorts of techniques to avoid this pain, like chewing gum ( worked to an extent), holding a piece of bread in my mouth (useless), even cutting onions underwater (worked, but was inefficient and a frankly, bizarre). So, one day I saw these beauties sitting on my kitchen counter and thought I would try wearing them while I made my onion mountain…eureka, no more tears! My life has not been the same since!
Cooking homemade, wholesome food can be a joy and so is beneficial to your and your families’ health. And knowing a few simple tips and shortcuts will make your life so much easier in the kitchen! This is crucial to fitting home cooking into our busy lives!
What are some of your favorite tips to make life easier in the kitchen?
