Onion

Indian onions (Allium cepa) have a smell, taste, color, and texture of their own. The skins are rosy, the flesh is pink-purple, and their taste is so sweet and pungent that they’re delicious even eaten raw. They are different from American yellow onions and even from sweet red ones, more closely resembling large shallots. Not quite as juicy when cut, they brown more easily, like shallots. Until someone starts to grow them in the United States, we have to settle for the onions available. Unless otherwise specified, use yellow onions. From time to time, we can buy large shallots that look and behave like Indian onions. Should you ever find them, buy them. In South India, shallotlike small onions are liberally used in cooking, but Parsis tend to stick with the larger variety sometimes called Bombay onion. For recipes using raw onions, look for Vidalia, Maui, or other sweet varieties.