Onion (India)

The pink-skinned Indian onion is the one most South Asian cooking assumes. Sharper and more pungent raw than a local onion, and it breaks down properly when you brown it, which is the whole foundation of a masala.

If you are making biryani, korma, or anything that starts with onions cooked slowly to a deep brown, this is the onion for it. Sliced thin and soaked in cold water for ten minutes it also loses enough bite to go raw into a salad or on top of a kebab.

Choose bulbs that are firm all over with dry, papery skin and a tight neck. A soft neck is the first sign of a bulb that is going over.

Cool, dark and dry with air circulation. Not in a sealed bag, and not next to potatoes. A hanging net or an open basket in a cupboard is ideal.

Once cut, wrap the remainder and use it within two days — a cut onion picks up and gives off smell quickly in a fridge.

Three to four weeks whole.