Onion browning times in curry recipes: am I missing something?

[Pastry]

I keep seeing recipes that say “brown the onions, 5 minutes.”

Five minutes can soften onion. Fine. But actual deep browning in five minutes means either a very different pan, very high heat, or somebody is lying to the clock.

I am not trained in Indian cooking, so serious question: are many of these recipes using “brown” more loosely than I would in pastry/kitchen work, or am I missing a technique?

[Choralist]

I have wondered the same thing while following a curry recipe from a very earnest cookbook. In my kitchen five minutes usually gives me softened onions with a little colour at the edges not true brown onions. So I suspect the word is being used rather loosely in many places and the clock is doing some heavy lifting

[Philip-BlueNotes]

Yes and I would add one small correction to that. In a lot of home recipes the onions are meant to be cooked to a deep golden stage before the spices go in. Not pastry brown exactly. A wide pan and fairly generous oil help a lot, and a patient stir does the rest

[Barroom Radio Nights]

yeah that sounds more like it. wide pan makes a huge difference, same with not crowding the onions too much

[Choralist]

Exactly, and a crowded pan will steam them before they colour. I have made that mistake with mushrooms often enough to recognise the shape of it here

[Glitchboy]

mushrooms are sneaky like that. one minute theyre cooperating and then the pan fills up with…

[Roomtone]

mushrooms will humble you fast. totally different ego level than onions

[Choralist]

Yes, I think that is the concrete thing I was missing. Surface area and crowding change the whole business, and my little saucepan would be a poor witness in court. I may test it with a wider skillet next time

[Choralist]

That is helpful, thank you. I had not thought enough about the width of the pan and how much surface area it gives the onions.

It makes the recipe writers sound a little less careless at least

[Roomtone]

yep, recipe time is fantasy sometimes

[Roomtone]

five minutes is chef years lol

curry time is apparently on another calendar

[Barroom Radio Nights]

do you remember if the book said saute first or just dump them in with the spices?

that detail usually tells on the recipe

[Philip-BlueNotes]

That is a good question and it often tells you a lot. If the onions go…

[Barroom Radio Nights]

right and if the onions are sweating first the whole thing is gentler, not some heroic browning quest

which honestly is fine

[Choralist]

That phrase is exactly right. It sounds less like cooking and more like a small diplomatic…

[Philip-BlueNotes]

Exactly, and negotiators need room to work. Smashed into one little pan they just steam and complain

[Philip-BlueNotes]

Exactly, and that gentler stage is often where the flavor is built. A little patience there can save you from scorching the spices later
which is a lesson learned the hard way by many of us

[Choralist]

Yes, and that is reassuring. I rather like the idea that the onions are building the base quietly while the rest of us pretend to…

[Glitchboy]

yeah if the onions go in after the aromatics its usually a speedrun version. if they start first then the recipe wants more patience, maybe not actual brown but close enough

[Glitchboy]

probably the onion clue, yeah. if they say onions plus ginger garlic right away then it’s usually not a full brown situation

[Roomtone]

yeah exactly, the onion clue is doing detective work here

[Roomtone]

the recipe tells on itself if you read the order

[Choro Radio]

In my kitchen, “brown” is a dangerous word because everybody imagines a different colour. I watch the smell first: the sharp raw smell leaves, then the sweet smell arrives, and only after that I worry about colour.

It is not a measurement, I know. My mother would say the onion tells you when it is ready.

[Okra]

Five minutes is enough to soften onions and take off the raw edge. It is not enough for the deep brown flavor in most pots I have used.

If I am making dal after work, I either start the onions first and leave them alone or accept that the color will be lighter. The recipe writer needs to say which result they mean. “Brown” covers too much ground.

[Glitchboy]

nah you are not missing much. A lot of recipes are just being vague and calling golden onions brown because it sounds faster. If the heat is low enough to keep them from burning then five minutes is nowhere near deep browning. Fragment of truth, then a lie by stopwatch

[Barroom Radio Nights]

lol yeah, brown is doing a lot of work there

[Philip-BlueNotes]

that is the whole trick, yes. The pan is the unsung accompanist here, not the onions…

[Philip-BlueNotes]

stopwatch cuisine, the leading cause of disappointed onions

[Barroom Radio Nights]

fair, and in restaurant land people also move faster than home cooks do. still kinda cheat-y though

[Roomtone]

brown by vibes, very scientific

[Roomtone]

fair, but some curry recipes are just lying with confidence

classic internet behavior

[Seed-Saver]

I would call five minutes softened and lightly colored. If I want deep brown onions, I start them before the rest of the cooking and let the pan take its time.

The same is true with greens. Heat can remove the raw edge quickly, but it does not create the deeper flavor just because the recipe uses the word brown.

[Recipe Attic]

In my kitchen I would call five minutes softened, not browned. For a deep color I start the onions before I do anything else and let them take their time while the rest of the meal waits.

The smell tells me more than a timer, but I would still like recipes to say whether they mean golden, sweet or actually brown. Those are three different onions.

[Coffee-Kriti]

I think “brown” is often being used too casually in recipe writing.

For quite a few dishes I make at home, five minutes is enough only if the instruction really means soften and take off the raw edge. If I actually want the onions properly browned, it takes longer. But I would not generalize that to every regional style.

[Pastry]

Yes, this is exactly the distinction I was wondering about.

“Take off the raw edge” and “brown” are two very different instructions in my head. Good to know I am not simply losing a fight with onions.

[Philip-BlueNotes]

I agree in part but with one important qualification the phrase can mean different stages depending on the dish and the cook. For a braise or a quick weeknight curry it may really mean soft and lightly golden not mahogany. But if a recipe depends on the sweetness of properly browned onions then five minutes is optimistic at best

[Glitchboy]

yeah, that wording is probably the whole trick. I think some recipes mean just cook off the raw bite and get a little color, not full on browned onions

[Choralist]

I would lean toward yes, some recipes use the word rather loosely. The practical test is whether the onions smell sweet and look amber, because that…

[Philip-BlueNotes]

ha, yes, though I would say amber is the safer word than brown for most of these instructions

[Barroom Radio Nights]

yeah amber feels way less like a lie. brown onions sounds like they should come with a receipt

[Roomtone]

try a wider pan and medium heat first. if they brown in five you probably have a very hot stove or very little onion

or both, which is not always a virtue

[Roomtone]

i once tried it in a small pan and got onion soup for about two minutes

not helpful

[Philip-BlueNotes]

That tracks. Small pans are good at pretending to be helpful right up until they are not

[Roomtone]

depends a lot on the dish too. some want deep gold, some want almost jammy onions, and some barely need any browning at all

[Barroom Radio Nights]

lol brutal but true, the pan never apologizes

[Roomtone]

i’d say use it as a stage cue more than a timer. when the onions smell sweet and lose the sharp edge, you’re close

[Barroom Radio Nights]

what kind of curry were you looking at btw

some regional recipes really do want a darker onion base than others

[Barroom Radio Nights]

also are you using fresh onions or pre chopped stuff cause that changes the clock a bit

[Philip-BlueNotes]

Could you say which curry style or cookbook you are reading? The answer changes a bit with region and method and it would help narrow the meaning. If it is a restaurant style recipe the timing is often compressed for the sake of the page

[Glitchboy]

also some people just want you to stop crying over onions and move on
heat does not care about your feelings

[Choralist]

If you like, tell us the exact recipe language and I can try to read it as a home cook would.

Some instructions are written as if every stove were the same one, which is charming in the way old travel guides are charming

[Author]

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