Date Caramelised Onions

Caramelised onions should ideally be cooked up over a low heat for 30 minutes or so until they brown and caramelise naturally. Few of us these days have the time for such niceties and so a faster heat and a couple of teaspoons of brown sugar do the trick. I'm fond of adding a few thin strips of red chili as well, just to spice things up. But I'm also fond of this way of doing them, using the super-sticky sweetness of the dates to give an extra depth to things.

Ingredients

• 2 onions, very finely sliced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 10g butter
• 8 dates, halved lengthways & sliced thinly
• 1 tbsp date syrup or ‘dibs’

Heat the olive oil and butter in a frying pan over a medium heat, adding the onions. Cover and leave to cook for five minutes, giving the onions an occasional check and stir to make sure they don’t burn. Add the dates. Turn the heat to low and cook for a further ten minutes, again checking occasionally and then add the date syrup. Leave to stand, then reheat to serve.