The Startup Cook : French Fried String Onions

Fried onion rings and I aren’t on very good terms. Yes I know, it’s an extremely simple recipe, but for some weird reason I simply couldn’t get the batter done properly.  Not wanting to be defeated, I consulted google for better fried onion ring recipes, which in turn led me to this fantastic appetizer.

A recipe by Laura Vitale, these delicious onion based fried food is just luscious. All fried food is, but this in particular is in a class of its own. Oh and more importantly unlike fried onion rings, the stress of cutting that perfect round is completely disregarded here.
 

Ingredients

1 Onion (Large)
1 ¼ Cups of Milk
1 1/3 Cups of flour
5 Cloves of Garlic (unpeeled)
1 ½ Tbs of Chili Powder (unroasted)
½ tsp of Salt
Dash of Pepper
Oil

Directions

Peel, clean and cut the onion in to thin slices.

Separate the onions slices in to strings and place them in a bowl.

Pour the milk over the onion strings and let it rest for an hour.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, chili powder, salt and pepper.

Heat up some oil in a heavy based pan.

When the oil starts to heat up, add the garlic cloves in.

Take a handful of onion, shake excess milk off, coat in the flour mixture and drop them in to hot oil.

Fry onion strings until brown and crisp.

Then remove them from the oil and place on a paper serviette.

Repeat until all the onion strings have been fried.

Disasters, Warnings and Tips

Season with salt before serving.

I can eat this entire dish, so I am not sure how many it will serve.

This is absolutely addictive. Weight watchers beware.

House of cards and this is my latest addiction.

Laura Vitale is growing on me.

Ensure the oil is really hot, so that your onion strings will come out crispy.

An excellent recipe, when you have only onions in your kitchen.

Kevin Spacey in House of Cards is AMAZING.

Bars should serve this instead of onion rings.



Text by Shazzana Hamid