A successful kebab depends not only on high-quality meat, but in many respects on onions, which are a must in almost any recipe for kebabs. There are many easy recipes for making pickled onions for meat, and each of them has its own tricks and raisins, despite the general ease of preparation.
Onion rings in vinegar
The most common and understandable recipe for marinated onions is onion heads cut into large rings, as in the photo, soaked for an hour in a weak solution of table vinegar. After that, you can salt the onion to taste and add spices.
Meat prepared for barbecue can be marinated immediately with onions, but a more saturated vinegar solution will be required, more time - about 2-3 hours under pressure, a couple of tablespoons of any vegetable oil, salt, seasonings and spices - according to personal taste.
One way or another, onions can be used as an appetizer to already fried meat, or added to skewers along with pieces of barbecue.
Red onions in wine vinegar
At home, you can prepare a delicious and simple appetizer for red onion kebabs. This is a low-calorie product with an incredibly valuable set of anthocyanins that have a beneficial effect on the skin - it is they that give vegetables and fruits their red and purple hues.
You can store a red onion snack for two weeks, so you can make several servings at once. A pleasant dish with a delicate taste can be used separately, or you can add it to a barbecue marinade, this will give it a special aroma.
For one serving, take three hard heads of red onions, half a teaspoon each of sugar and salt, one teaspoon of a mixture of Italian dry herbs, a glass of boiling water and about 100 ml of wine vinegar.
Pour salt, herbs and sugar into the bowl, then gradually add boiling water and vinegar there, stirring constantly, cover and let it brew for 15-20 minutes.
Cut the onion into thin rings, separate them from each other. If we then use the onion for barbecue, we can make the rings thicker.
Pour boiling water over and rinse with cold water. This trick allows you to remove the unpleasant onion flavor that spoils fresh breath. Then fill the onion with marinade, cover and send it to the refrigerator for a day.
Onions in kefir marinade
Onions marinated in kefir are very tender and aromatic. This is a good appetizer for hot high-calorie dishes and an interesting addition to kebabs.
For 1 kg of onion, we need 1 liter of kefir, 1 table. a spoonful of aromatic spices, the choice of which is a matter of personal taste, a teaspoon of black pepper and a little salt. Next is the step-by-step production of the dish.
Finely chop the onion, as in the photo, put it in a cup and knead it with your hands a little so that the juice appears. For good taste, it is better to take ceramic dishes. Then we send spices there, mix and fill with kefir. Cover the dish and let it brew for about an hour.
If you want to immediately marinate meat in kefir with onions, and this is an excellent marinade for chicken and lean meat (pork entrecote, beef), try replacing black pepper with a substantial amount (at least a tablespoon) of ground red.
There is no need to worry about the extra hotness of the kebab - kefir easily absorbs the extra hotness of the red pepper, leaving a delicious aroma of the meat seasoned with it. Pepper, on the other hand, allows the meat to marinate faster, and literally in an hour you can string nicely smelling pieces of barbecue for frying on the fire.
Onion marinade on plain soda
Any carbonated water seriously softens meat pieces and copes with excess carbohydrates. Onions cooked in mineral soda will be tasty, tender, almost “sizzling” on the tongue and will perfectly emphasize the taste of a barbecue. You need to marinate such an onion right away with pieces for the future kebab. By the way, you can add some green onion feathers here.
For half a kilogram of an onion, 3-5 cloves of garlic, 1-2 tables are required. l. vegetable (any) oil, salt, pepper, seasonings - as usual, to taste and a liter of soda. We put all the ingredients in a spacious dish, except for soda. Mix all this, knead and leave for 20 minutes. Then fill with mineral water and leave to marinate for several hours.
Onion in tomato marinade
Tomato and onion is another classic flavor combination for meat cooked over an open fire. Such a marinade will not only help the future kebab gain softness, but add a special aroma and pleasant shade to the dish.
For half a kg of onions, you will need several cloves of garlic and 1 table. spoon of kebab seasoning (or a mixture of any herbs you like). We traditionally add sugar, pepper and salt to taste - some like it more spicy and salty, while others will limit themselves to just a pinch. For this amount of onion, one and a half liters of tomato juice is needed - given that the shish kebab will be marinated there.
As usual, chop the onion in a convenient way, put everything in a deep bowl, stir, "squeeze" the juice with your hands, cover and leave to marinate for 3-4 hours.
By the way, the juice can be replaced with fresh tomatoes (2 kg) and green onions can be added - the taste of barbecue and the onion itself, which can be used as a snack, will be much brighter.
Lemon onion marinade
This marinade is simply irreplaceable for poultry, both for chicken and for game, for example, wild duck or hazel grouse, and for fish kebab. It emphasizes the taste of meat, helps to get rid of unpleasant aftertastes and unnecessary toughness, goes well with various vegetables that can be added directly to the marinade - bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, and so on. And all this can be strung on skewers, taken out of the marinade, turning the kebab into a varied and colorful dish.
You can marinate the onion in lemon juice cold or hot. Cold - without pretreatment, and hot - chopped onions are doused with boiling water in advance (or immersed in boiling water) and washed with cold water. In the first case, the onion will be crisper. The rest of the vegetables, if you want to add them to the marinade, do not need to be processed - just cut into convenient pieces.
The lemon marinade for kebab has its own secrets. Ordinary black pepper is added to poultry, a lot of lemon zest is added to fish (you can squeeze lemons directly into the marinade), and red ground pepper and a spoonful of honey are added to game.
For a quarter of a kg of onion, you need a tablespoon of sugar and salt, about 50 g of lemon juice, 2 tablespoons. tablespoons of vegetable oil, seasonings and a portion of herbs that you like - to taste.
Step by step the lemon marinade is prepared as follows: cut the onion, add herbs, spices, sugar, pepper, salt to it, mix. Separately add oil to the juice and beat with a whisk, then pour the onion with this mixture, without stirring, cover, press down with a load on top and leave for half an hour.
If onions are marinated right away with meat, you need to take two to three times more lemon juice and a glass of boiled water. Stir the marinade, onion and pieces of the future kebab, press down with oppression and leave for 2-3 hours.
Onions in apple cider vinegar
This marinade is good for any meat, but not fish. For one large onion, you need half a glass of boiled water, 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, half a teaspoon of salt and half a tablespoon of sugar. By the way, you can add radish cut into thin rings to the marinade and then fry it on the fire along with a kebab.
The onion should be cut into half rings, mixed with the rest of the seasonings and marinated for 15 minutes. By the way, you can add a little grated apple to the marinade. For marinating, along with the meat of all the ingredients, you need to take more, maintaining the proportions, and pour the marinade over the meat. Then cover, put oppression and wait a few hours.
