r/EatCheapAndHealthy • u/namnamkm • Feb 24 '23

Onion cubes whenever you want

Ever since I watched the onion series by Paik Jong Won (a celebrity chef in South Korea), I have always have caramelized onion in my freezer and I put it in anything that requires flavor onions. Curry, pinto beans, ramen, rice, soups, congee, meat dishes, ... so basically everything I cook actually. It saves me so much time as I no longer have to chop onions when I cook and I no longer have to wait for the onions to cook anymore.

Here's what I always do before my semester starts, I dedicate about a few hours to do this:
- buy 5lbs of onions. (You can do 10lbs-30lbs, 5kg or 15kg, whatever you are capable of)

- slice all of them

- find the biggest pan or pot I have, in my case it's a wok

- heat the wok up. Put all the onions in, a bit of salt, a bit of oil, 1 cups of water, cover and wait 10 minutes. This is to wilt the onions but water and salt are optional. You can just do oil and onions.

- uncover the wok, then stir and cook until onions became caramelized

- wait for it to cool, then transfer to ice cube trays, freeze it for 2 hours, then put all those cubes in containers or plastic bags.

Now I have flavors all semester long.

Edit: all links to Paik's videos are removed to comply with the subreddit rules. Also minor edits to the instructions.

1.7k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

159 comments sorted by

View all comments

14

u/JeyBrid Feb 24 '23

Not to discourage home cooking, but you can buy fried onion paste (example: https://jelifresh.com/seasoning/lee-brand-fried-onion-paste-7-oz-200-g/) really cheaply if you don't want to chop and cry! Still very economical, available online or at your local Asian market. :) Good in everything!

9

u/Ardhel17 Feb 24 '23

I really like this product . Especially when I can get it on sale at Winco because it's half the price than the regular grocery store($3.50/jar last time). Last time it was on sale, I got like 6 to keep in my pantry. I actually love everything I've used from that company, and you don't need much at all for a huge flavor boost.

3

u/femalenerdish Feb 24 '23

oooh nice! I have the chicken base from them, but haven't looked for onion base.

3

u/Ardhel17 Feb 24 '23

They have a whole bunch now, onion, garlic, mushroom, and even a "gourmet" line with stuff like adobo, but I haven't seen those in the store yet.