Food - Tear Free Cooking with Nonions

I was recently invited to a very special afternoon to learn and then relish some incredible food cooked by Chef Vivek Huria, Corporate Chef at ANGT using our very own Nonions (I have reviewed them in a post earlier, click here to know more). Nonions are pre-cut/fried/boiled onion paste that is free from preservatives. Surprisingly the idea was born because of a lady who hated cutting onions, demanded that her father get her married to a man who did not like onions or did not eat them for religious reason (like Jains). It was her brother who came up with an idea to solve this dilemma and thus Nonions were born!

Chef Huria cooked up a storm with his traditional Hydrabadi Chicken Biryani, Paneer Makhan (butter) Masala, Broccoli Pakoda, stuffed Aloo (potato) Patty,and Cashew Chicken. One of the main ingredients of all of these dishes is onions. Onions are a vegetable which are not only time consuming to cut but also bring tears to your eyes. Cutting, frying and boiling onions can be a difficult task and even more pain staking when cooking a big meal with multiple courses. 

Chef Vivek demonstrates how easy it is to use Nonions to make everything from simple to traditional Indian dishes, reducing cooking time considerably. Also with Nonions he uses the ginger and garlic pastes from Miraya, another time saving product from ANGT kitchen. While cooking the chef also points out that Noions are concentrated in flovour and 1 tbsp of Noion is equal to one medium onion. So one pack which is priced around AED  5 - 6 (depending on the supermarket) can last you a while if you are making a meal for a smaller family or just yourself.  

So if these pictures are getting your taste buds jumpy, why not try cooking them yourself? Scroll below to view more pictures and full videos of how to make Brocolli and Cream Cheese Pakodas and traditional Hyderabadi biryani.

In this video above you can see the chef making cream cheese broccoli pakodas (and hear us talking in the background..sorry for that!). Notice how the chef has incorporated the fried nonions here into the cream cheese, purely for it flavour and not to serve as a base for the dish as is common with many Indian recipes.

  

Paneer Butter Masala

Potato Patty Stuffed with Veggies and ofcourse Nonions.

In the next video you will see chef Huria make Traditional Hyderabadi Biryani where Noions are used not just as a flavour agent but as one of the bases dish. The benefit of using the Nonions is that it gives you the exact same flavour every time. Something which can be difficult to achieve at home if you are frying the onions at home. Which can sometimes get too brown or be under cooked, becuase even the most experienced home cooks can have an 'off' day.

So there you have it, the correct way of using Nonions straight from a professional Chef. Remember, once opened, Nonions stay good in the refrigerator for a month, which is not the case with regular onions. So apart from saving time, they also help in reducing wastage of food. With the month of Ramadan in full swing, you can try these while making big quantities and use all the time you save to spend with your family or doing anything else you love.

XoXo

K