An Ode to Fried Onions
With an expensive product or complicated preparation method, you can quickly impress everyone, but sometimes it’s a simple, humble product that you’re actually craving the most. Right? So today, an ode to a product I’d happily sprinkle over everything: fried onions.
There are a few things I always have at home and replenish as soon as they’re half-empty or gone. Butter, lemons, soy sauce, and olive oil, for example, but something else that absolutely can’t be missing is a container of fried onions. They’re the crunchy addition that makes almost any dish better.
Irresistible
Because really, what wouldn’t you put them on? All the Indo classics become even tastier with a tablespoon or two of the crispy topping. Soto ayam, nasi goreng, satay, gado gado. Without fried onions, they’re delicious, but with them, they’re so irresistible that you just want more and more.
The party doesn’t stop with Indonesian cuisine, though. Put them on your cheese sandwich, your sausage roll or hot dog, your fried egg, spareribs, smoked sausage, or peanut butter and sambal sandwich. Replace the raw onions on your patatje oorlog with the fried variety. For all I care, sprinkle them over your stamppot. I also routinely sprinkle them over my absolute favorite dish, congee. The Chinese rice porridge is wonderfully soft and the ultimate comfort food, and a little crispy onion on top finishes it off perfectly.
Straight from the container
And fuck it, I also eat them straight from the container. I have a friend who, whenever she comes over for dinner, routinely opens the cupboard, takes out the container, pours herself a glass of wine, and starts nibbling. The perfect poor man’s drinking snack. A 100-gram container won’t even cost you a euro.
Those who really want to go all out can drive to the toko and buy fried shallots. They’re often larger and therefore even tastier. Just always make sure you buy your shallots or onions in a jar with a resealable lid. Once, on a whim, I bought a huge bag, but at some point the onions inevitably become soft. Such a shame. Because then, of course, the entire point of the crispy onions is lost.
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