Grilled Onion たまねぎ焼き

たまねぎ焼き

This is a really simple recipe. We had it at one of our favorite restaurants Tori Gin, (sometimes referred to as 12 Frogs) and liked it so much that it was a perfect candidate for an at home re-creation.

Finished home version

Sitting at the counter at Tori Gin we were able to see into the kitchen and had a front row seat at the charcoal grill and kamameshi cooking station. They were serving up entire onions cut in half and cooked over the coals. Intrigued, we ordered one and it was pretty darn good.

Tori Gin grilled onion

As the chefs prepared our order of these onions, I could see some of the steps involved. It's not simply cut and thrown onto the grill. It was cut in half first, skewered, then placed into the microwave. Later I learned that time was 3 minutes, albeit in a high power microwave.

Then they are simply brushed with some sesame oil, dusted with salt and pepper, and grilled.

The version I've shown above was made before knowing the recipe. I attempted to make it two ways, one with olive oil and one with butter. Pretty sure I tried some shoyu (soy sauce) on one of those as well. All were satisfactory, but not as good as the restaurant version.

Later, on a subsequent visit to Tori Gin, I saw the onions cooking again. This time I asked the cook for the recipe  was informed about the microwave cooking time and the sauce which is simply sesame oil. The sesame oil they showed me was very light, so that's what I bought and used the next time I made them.

Instructions: たまねぎ焼き レシピ

1. One or more onions. A sweet onion if you can find them (see below for more info). Otherwise, any bulb onion will work.
2. Cut a small amount of the ends off the onion and then cut in half.
3. Stab with two skewers in each half as shown.
4. Microwave for 3-4 minutes. This is necessary to soften and cook the onion on the inside. Longer is OK for low power microwaves.
5. Remove and let rest for a few minutes.
6. Season with salt and pepper on both sides then brush with sesame oil.
7. Grill them on a charcoal grill or over your stove top on a rack as shown below. Cook both sides. This would also be very easy in a toaster oven or with your broiler in the oven.
8. Watch them carefully and keep the heat under control. They'll slowly caramelize. 
9. Simply start eating from the center and enjoy. They're very good. 

End Product

So I made this dish the first time with any large onion I could find in the store. But the search was on for the perfect onion. Onions are easy to find and are normally just marketed as yellow onions in the U.S. or as "tamanegi" in Japanese markets. But I was looking for a sweeter onion with less bite - similar to a Maui Onion or Vidalia variety. 

I eventually found some nice large onions from Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture in the basement market of the Saikaya Store - which is the store you run into walking straight out Womble gate, and is across from Baan Chiangmai.

The label of a sweet onion from Awaji Island

So let's "peel back" the layers (no pun intended) and find out some more about this Japanese sweet onion.

Hyogo Prefecture is where Kobe, Japan is located and the famous Kobe beef of course. But more specifically, the onions are grown on Awaji Island -  whose claim to fame is the Nojima fault line which is responsible for the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.  It is more recognized as the Kobe earthquake. Unfortunately, over 6,000 people lost their lives to the earthquake. There is a museum on the island that protects a portion of the fault line to show the public.

Awaji Island is located in Japan's inland sea. The island is just to the southwest of the cities of Osaka and Kobe. It is known through history as being the source of many products for the Imperial Court. They are also the home of Tajimi cattle which are the breeding cattle for the famous Matsuzaka and Kobe beef.



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But Awaji Island's most famous product is it's onion. They are sweeter and milder than most onions, with some claiming that they can even be bitten into with no ill side effects.  You can see some photos of a farm here. Their sugar content has been measured at 9-10% compared to regular onions which come in at 4%.

The other measure of mildness of an onion comes from its pyruvic acid content.  Pyruvic acid comes from soil high in sulfur, among other things. So the best mild onions are grown in low sulfur soils - which then leads to low pyruvic acid content. Such is the case with Vidalia onions in the U.S. The pyruvic acid content of most onions is in the 10-13% range according to Penn State Agricultural Sciences. While sweet onions measure 5%.

At this writing, the commissary does sell a white onion called "Sweet D" from Dalena Farms. Their website claims that pyruvic acid content does come in at less than 5. They are grown in California.  Haven't tried to cook these yet.

Dalena Farm "Sweet D"

This certainly was a learning expedition. One of the things I learned is that there is an onion test facility at Texas A&M. They will give you an onion pungency report - of course you have to send them some onions and $$. The folks here say onion pungency is affected primarily by sulfur in the soil, but also the onion variety, environment/amount of rain, and planting density. Hotter summers also promote more pungent onions.  They explain that the specific onion variety has less to do with the taste than the other conditions listed above.

I made the onion recipe again with the sweet onions from Awaji Island and it did make a noticeable difference - being milder and sweeter than the regular onions. So please do use the sweet variety if you can find them.

Tori Gin kitchen and some onions on the right

Iwai Sesame Oil

This is the brand of sesame oil I used, but any brand and color (light/dark) should work just fine.