> I can't think of any situation where I would want more than a literal tablespoon of oil for cooking the first veggies thrown in (usually onion).

I have a few recipes that call for browning onions in a cup (or more!) of ghee.

Works wonderfully. Still takes forever.

There are many ways to brown onions, all of them suck. I tried the "boil in water first" method while back, that works OK ish.