Recipe: Red Onion Salad

Red Onion Salad (to accompany Biryani)

1 large red (almost purple!) onion

ice and water

salt

Juice of 1 lime or lemon

optional: sliced green chillies, diced tomato, fresh cilantro leaves (minced or whole), red chilli powder, or chaat masala

Trim off the ends of the red onion and peel away the dry outer layer. Quarter the onion, then thinly slice along the "equator" to produce papery thin or just merely thin semicircles (as you prefer). Put water into a bowl, salt it, add the ice, then put the onion slices into the bowl and briefly toss/mix using fingers. Let the onion sit in the salted ice water for at least a few minutes for the sting to leech out - you can taste-test a slice every now and then to see how long you prefer the onion to sit (I like it after just a few minutes).

Drain and rinse the onion slices, place in a small serving dish, and toss with the lemon or lime juice (depending on which flavor you prefer).

Garnish/season as you prefer - some people like to top it with minced fresh cilantro or mix that in or add a bit of diced tomato, some like it hot with sliced green chillies or red chilli powder, some like to add chaat masala.