Onion gravy

And this time it's REAL gravy, the Western kind, not the inadequate translation of some South Indian kuzhambu into English!

Yesterday's supper for Pete was sausages and mash (mashed potatoes), and he was hankering after onion gravy to go with it. So I looked through some gravy recipes online and discovered that it's not exactly a complicated thing to make. The main ingredients are onions and stock.

I don't usually go to the trouble of making stock from scratch, so I used a fancy pork-flavour Knorr stock cube (the one currently being peddled by chef Marco Pierre White on TV) to make the stock. I'm sure a vegetarian stock cube will do just as well, for those of you who are purists. They probably taste the same, anyhow.

Anyway, the secret to a lipsmacking onion gravy lies in the way the onions are cooked - basically with some butter, long and slow, till they are brown and caramelised BUT NOT BURNT. The balsamic vinegar is the final touch.

The onion gravy was oh-my-GOD yummy and savoury - the balsamic giving that extra oomph, if you ask me. I barely managed to get some photos before Pete whisked away his plate.

Onion gravy is not particularly photogenic, especially in my hands - I'm a crap photographer. So that's why the mash and gravy look the way they do in the photos... but if flavour could be uploaded into the pix, believe me, you'd totally be licking your computer screens!

Recipe for: Onion gravy

Ingredients:

2 medium onions, halved and sliced thinly
2-1/2 cups stock, instant or home-made
1/2 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar
3/4 tsp butter
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp oil (any mild/flavourless oil)
Pepper and salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat the butter and oili n a saucepan, add the sliced onion and stir well. Fry the onions on medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring, until they just start to turn colour.

2. Then turn the heat right down, cover the pan and let the onions cook for 10 minutes or till they are brown and soft.

3. Now stir in the sugar and balsamic vinegar and cook the onions for 2-3 minutes on medium-low heat.

4. Then pour in the stock and bring to a boil. After 2-3 minutes, dissolve the cornflour in some water (or in some stock taken from the pan) and add it to the gravy.



5. Stir well, then add salt and pepper to taste. Let the gravy simmer till it thickens. Ideally, it should not be runny.



Serve hot with vegetarian (or real) sausages and mashed potatoes for a very English supper.

RECIPE: ONION GRAVY

Ingredients:
2 medium onions, halved and sliced thinly
2-1/2 cups stock, instant or home-made
1/2 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar
3/4 tsp butter
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp oil (any mild/flavourless oil)
Pepper and salt to taste

Method:
1. Heat the butter and oili n a saucepan, add the sliced onion and stir well. Fry the onions on medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring, until they just start to turn colour.
2. Then turn the heat right down, cover the pan and let the onions cook for 10 minutes or till they are brown and soft.
3. Now stir in the sugar and balsamic vinegar and cook the onions for 2-3 minutes on medium-low heat.
4. Then pour in the stock and bring to a boil. After 2-3 minutes, dissolve the cornflour in some water (or in some stock taken from the pan) and add it to the gravy.
5. Stir well, then add salt and pepper to taste. Let the gravy simmer till it thickens. Ideally, it should not be runny.
Serve hot with vegetarian (or real) sausages and mashed potatoes for a very English supper.