I love caramelized onions {pronounced car-melized, but I guess some people say caramel-ized. It must be my Michigan showing}. I have very vivid memories of my mom in the kitchen caramelizing onions for Mujaddra and sayyadiyeh — a fried fish and rice dish. Despite the fact that she’d close the kitchen door, I could always smell the sweet scent of those onions seeping through the cracks in the door. I’d even sneak in and steal a taste after she scooped them out of the pan. The best part, she always made extra so we could add as much as we wanted to our plates at dinner.
Now, I still love caramelized onions, but I absolutely dread the thought of having my apartment smell like onions. And we all know the neighbors can probably smell it as well. I close all doors leading to the bedroom and bathroom, and keep the balcony door open wide. I even have the stove’s overhead fan going. Truth be told, all of those things only do so much to get the smell of caramelized onions out, but it’s absolutely worth the effort. Then, as soon as they’re done, I’ve got my candles going. Sometimes, I even bust out the bukhoor (incense).
Don’t be put off by how the dip looks. This isn’t the most beautiful dip in the world, but I promise you it tastes so much better than it looks!
Ingredients
- 2 Medium Onions
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- 1 tablespoon Dry White Wine (optional)
- 1 teaspoon Brown Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 8oz package Cream Cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat Oven to 400 F
- Prepare the onions by cutting into strips. To do this, peel the onion and cut onion in half lengthways from bulb end to tip. Place onion, cut side down, on chopping board and then cut the onion lengthways into even slices
- Heat olive oil and butter in a large heavy duty skillet, making sure to coat the skillet
- Add the onion strips into the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring regularly. The onions will begin to yellow and then after about 10 minutes, begin to turn brown. Once they begin to brown, add 1/4 cup water and stir. Then stir in brown sugar to speed up the process. Cook for another 7-10 minutes
- (optional) add dry white wine to the onions and stir, let the onion continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Let the onions cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. The trick is to allow the onions to turn brown, without burning. Remove from heat and set aside
- In a large bowl, mix together the caramelized onions, cream cheese, mozzarella and Worcestershire sauce.
- Place in an oven-safe baking dish and bake for 20 minutes, until the dip is slightly bubbling
- Serve warm with crackers
