Have you ever wondered about the health benefits of onions? Onions are a good source of biotin, Vitamins B6 & C, calcium, chromium and dietary fiber. Raw onions can have quite a bite, but cooked onions tend to have a sweet flavor. In fact, that makes them a good food to satisfy a sweet tooth, in a healthy way.
Onions come in different shapes and colors. To the right are some yellow onions. They look a bit different than what you buy in the store. These were bought from our local farmers market, when they were freshly harvested.
Most of the time, onions are cooked as part of another dish, such as Sauteed Mushrooms and Onions or Stir-Fry Sweet Vegetables.
Onions are tasty AND good for you! #WhatsCookingWithBarbara Click To Tweet
How to Dice an Onion
There are many ways to cut up an onion. The following method is one I learned during my week at the CIA Boot Camp. I like it becuase it makes nice even-sized pieces.
- Pull out those hairs or they’ll wind up in your food!
- Ready to start. We’ll cut the top (non-root) end off and then cut it in half.
- We’ll leave that root on throughout – it will hold our onion together.
Use your paring knife to remove the outer peel. - With the half-onion flat on your board, make horizontal slices about 1/4” apart. Stop just before the root. Notice the finger placement – it is important for keeping your fingers safe!
- Continue with your 1/4 inch slices.
- By the way, this technique works for other sizes. So if you wanted 1/8” diced pieces, simply make all your cuts 1/8”.
- Now make vertical cuts that are 1/4” apart across the onion. Again, don’t cut through the root end of your onion.
- If you always have your nails facing the knife, as in this picture, you’re much less likely to cut yourself.
- Now you’ll want to make crosswise cuts. This is where you’ll have your nice, even pieces begin to fall off.
- When you get to the end, you’ll have that bit of root end that you can pitch.
Want more onion recipes? They’ll be featured in my cookbook, Veggies 101. Are you on my mailing list? It’s the best way to keep informed about the progress on Veggies 101. By the way, do you want to be on the list that gets news about this site first? Sign up here.
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