Bloomin' Onion

I love getting appetizers when we go out to eat, most of the time they are better than the actual meal.  One of my favorite is the bloomin’ onion, it’s an onion cut up breaded and deep fried, its not quite onion rings, which have more breading on them and obviously are in rings.

 I found this great recipe for the onion and a dipping sauce, and I have got to tell you I made it only two days ago and could honestly go for another one.  The breading is light and super flavorful and the sauce goes right with it, it reminds me of a restaurant that we have up here in the midwest called “Space Aliens”  and they have a really good bloommin’ onion.

Ingredients:

Dip:

2 Tbsp. Mayonnaise

2 Tbsp. Sour Cream

1 ½  tsp. Ketchup

½ tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

¼ tsp. Paprika

Pinch of Cayenne Pepper

Salt and Pepper

For the Onion:

1 Large Sweet Red Onion

2 ½ Cups Ap(all purpose) Flour

1 tsp. Cayenne Flour

2 Tbsp. Paprika

½ tsp Dried Thyme

½ tsp. Dried Oregano

½ tsp. Ground Cumin

Pepper

2 Large Eggs

1 Cup Milk

1 Gallon Soy or Corn Oil

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients for the dip and then refrigerate while you prepare the onion..
2. Slice the onion (cut off ½ in from the one end of the onion and then peel, place the onion cut side down starting ½ inch from the uncut end make a downward cut all the way to the board, repeat to make four evenly spaced cuts around the onion, continue slicing between each section until you have 16 evenly spaced cuts, turn the onion over and use your fingers to gently separate the outer pieces)
3. Whisk together flour, cayenne, paprika, thyme, oregano, cumin and ½ tsp. black pepper.
4. In a different bowl whisk together eggs, milk and 1 cup of water.
5. Place the onion in a different bowl cut side own, and pour all of the flour mixture on top.  Cover the bowl with a plate and shake to distribute the flour, check to make sure the whole onion is coated.
6. Using a slotted spoon fully submerge the onion in the egg mixture.  Remove and let the excess egg drip off, the repeat the flour process again.  Refrigerate the onion while you heat the oil.
7. Heat oil in a large pot to 400 degrees.  Lower the onion cut side down into the oil, adjust heat so the temp stays around 350 degrees.  Let fry about 3 minutes, then turn the onion over and fry 3 more minutes.  Take the onion out and let it drain on a paper towel.  Season with salt and serve with dip.

Personally I have a deep fryer that I like using more than cooking a whole pan of oil so I used that, and I feel that its turned out just fine, so feel free to work with what you got.  There are some variations that you can do to personalize your onion and sauce.  Personally I am not a fan of spicy things so I didn’t use a lot of cayenne pepper in the sauce.  If you like a little more tang to your sauce, you could add up to  1 Tbsp. of prepared horseradish.  I did not this time, but I will probably add some next time….and trust me there will be a next time.

I was afraid to cut the onion and trust me when I say, it did not look perfect, but it did work for the most part and I will feel more confident next time doing it.

Tip:  Taste the sauce after adding only a little cayenne pepper and then gradually add more until your desired taste. 

ENJOY!