Sweet-and-sour red onions — my grandmother’s recipe. I love recipes with onions, which are rarely absent from my kitchen, especially when they’re red and from Tropea. I often use Tropea onions, just as I use the Giarratana onions: with the former I stuff pizzas and focaccias or enrich salads like the Aeolian potato salad, while with the latter I prepare savory pastries such as the famous Cudduruni lentinese or Scaccia ragusana with onion and tomato, and first courses like pasta with onion, cherry tomatoes and olives.

Today, however, I want to tell you about one of my favorite recipes: Tropea red onions in sweet-and-sour sauce, pan-cooked like my grandmother used to make, with added raisins and almonds. A simple and tasty vegan and vegetarian dish, perfect served as a side dish for meat or vegetables or as an appetizer.
If you’re not afraid of shedding a few tears while peeling the onions, follow me into the kitchen and let’s prepare our dish. Before we start, I remind you that if you want to stay updated on all my recipes, you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here) .

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Difficulty: Very easy
Cost: Very inexpensive
Preparation time: 10 Minutes
Portions: 4-5 People
Cooking methods: Stovetop
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients for making sweet-and-sour onions

2 lbs Tropea red onions
to taste Salt
to taste Extra virgin olive oil
3 1/2 tbsp Apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
1 tbsp Sugar (or stevia)
1.2 oz Raisins
3/4 oz Almonds (sliced or use pine nuts)

Tools

Preparation of sweet-and-sour Tropea red onions in a pan

You can use this same recipe to make sweet-and-sour white onions as well.

To make Tropea onions in sweet-and-sour sauce, peel them and slice them into not-too-thin slices. Place them in a very large pan, drizzle with a little oil and pour over a small glass of water in which you have diluted half of the vinegar; add salt and cook over low heat until all the water has evaporated. This will take at least 45 minutes.
When the onions have softened, pour in the remaining vinegar and add the sugar, then let it evaporate again.
As an alternative to sugar, you can use a zero-calorie natural sweetener such as stevia.
Push the onions to one side of the pan, add the almonds and let them toast a little, then finish with the raisins. Let everything cook for a few minutes on the stove, stirring often, then turn off the heat.
Wait for them to cool before serving. I recommend preparing them one or two days in advance and storing them in the fridge: the longer they rest, the tastier they will become.