Simmering, rather than caramelizing, onions (plus garlic and ginger)
Without the water, I'd call it 'sweating'.
With the water &amp; lid, they're going to come out a bit like like fairground hotdog onions… not really like caramelised.
Fine for Spanish Tortilla (or hot dogs), not so great if you need that Maillard-like reaction.
If you don't use the water, or the lid, you can slowly caramelise onions with little supervision, but not none.
Check them every 10-15 mins at 'too slow to burn' pan temperatures, with plenty of oil. This is another one of those &quot;work it out by repetition based on your stove heat &amp; your pan thickness&quot; things that might take you a few tries to get just right.
After that you can do it every time.
You can also cheat a bit (it's a fake &amp; doesn't taste quite the same…)
Sweat at minimal heat, like for tortilla, for half an hour, then push up the heat a fair bit once you're there to supervise &amp; quickly brown the already soft onions by keeping them moving constantly.
That's still a bit 'fairground' but a reasonable cheat.