Frying till golden brown

Frying onions till golden brown is an important technique in every Indian kitchen. It is easy to do. Heat a heavy based saucepan/frying pan on medium heat with 4 tbsp. oil or ghee. Add one finely sliced onion and spread it evenly on the base. Sauté for seven to ten minutes stirring gently and frequently. To put it simply, in these seven to ten minutes the onions turn soft, then translucent then golden and then brown. Wherever I have said golden brown, it means I do not want them to be totally brown. They should be just golden. Please allow more time if you have more than one onion and ensure you do not overcrowd your saucepan/frying pan as onions go mushy.

Most of my recipes call for frying onions till golden brown. Chicken Sukka, Mutton/Goat Meat Biryani, Sweet Pulao and Butter Beans Kurma are good examples of this technique. In my book I have used only brown onions unless I have specified Spanish onions.