There are variety of onions in the market and it a must-have sautéing ingredients in the cooking.

I use three types of onion which is the red onion, yellow onion and shallots.

Shallots

Shallots is better known as bawang merah kecil in Malay.

Specifically, I use shallots to make ingredients for sautéing and preparing sambal.

For daily cooking the portion that I used will be three shallots and two garlic.

In my cooking, I use both shallots and garlic often as elementary spices.

Shallots can also be chopped finely and fried until golden brown.

This method results in tiny crispy shallots chips namely bawang goreng which can be bought ready-made from groceries and supermarkets.

Onion flakes or “bawang goreng” are used as a condiment in Asian cuisine to be served with porridge or soup. 

How I make onion flakes at home

Slice onion and wash with salt. Filter it to dry. Deep fry  the onion until golden brown. Take it out from the oil and filter the oil. Spread the flake onion on noodle soup, beef soup, fried noodles or mix vegetable fry.

Other than mix in the cooking mixture, onion flakes give extra taste to the soup and  fried noodles. 

Ready made onion flakes are available in the grocery shop. You can buy ready-made onion flakes, which saves cooking time but is a bit costly.

Red onion

Rose onions from India is my favourite onion to use in my cooking.

Red onion is for sautéing and main slice ingredients in soy sauce dishes and sambal.

I used raw red onion for salad and dip for grilled fish.

It is a very important ingredient in a dish and without red onion, the food is not tasty.

Yellow onion

In Malay, yellow onion is better known as “bawang besar Holland“.

I used yellow onion to make pasta sauce and garnishing for Laksa Johor. The function of the yellow onion in Laksa Johor is almost similar to other vegetables that used in the dish.

Why I use onions in the cooking

Even though some other Malay dishes adding other ingredient such as lemongrass, galangal, turmeric and tamarind, onions is always the ingredient in whatever dishes I cook.

If you cook while traveling, by using only onion can make your dishes tasty without additional sauté ingredients.

Having this as basic ingredient helps your cooking taste as good as cooking in your own kitchen at home.  

People using onions are from generation to generation.

I learned to use onions in cooking during childhood from my late mother.

She taught me the basics of cooking.

While enhancing the menu of my cooking, I searched my own way of cooking in the kitchen for my family.

How I keep onions at home 

I have a basket to keep my stock of onions separately from other ingredients.

The onions have to be kept in open space to avoid spoilt.

Sometimes, onions grow leaves if we keep them for too long. 

To avoid onion growth, leaves occurred, I buy a small quantity of onion to be used for two weeks cooking. This not to waste money and onions as well. 

I put a basket of onions outside the food pantry.

This makes onions last longer at room temperature. 

If ever the onion grows, put it in the soil  and water it twice a day.

From it, grow the spring onion. You can use the spring onion in the cooking such as beef soup or soy sauce fish.