Onion Rings can now be a legal treat!

Posted on August 4, 2023 by in vegetables, vegetarian

Onion rings will still be the death of me. It took me forever to find the right recipe and when I finally did, I soon realized that two many of these bad boys will kill me! Up until now, I made my onion rings with a light beer batter and they were to-die-for! They were light, crunchy, golden-brown and no matter how many I made, it was never enough!

Onion rings only got better in my house when I changed the beer to a stout and added a delicious Blue Cheese Dip! Sadly, it is a moment-on-the-lips-lifetime-on-the-hips thing to eat and I kept it for rather special occasions, but the crunchy goodness, ooooh, so very hard to forget!

Yesterday I had a light bulb moment! With this new LCHF or Paleo way of eating we can have the traditionally forbidden fatty foods as long as there are no carbs involved! Almond flour is the answer! I can crumb my onion rings in almond flour! Eureka, we can finally indulge in our favorite snack food without the quilt!

Needless to say, the family rejoiced and with the chili and basil mayo that I made, we could have had just that for supper and no-one would have complained! Just in case the family did not like it, I made grilled chicken and a salad with the deliciously crispy onion rings.

I can hardly imagine my cooking without the humble old onion. The most underrated vegetable, I think, yet almost all good stews, stocks and soups start with caramelizing the onions. I remember the first onion dish I made that was quite innovative at the time, was Braised Onions with Thyme Shortbread, it was such a delight, I should actually make it more often! Try a Calzone with caramelized Onions and you would not believe how easy it was to make it! Then of course, smoking some onions last week took the humble old vegetable to a whole new level for us!

Onion Rings without the quilt

serves 4

Ingredients

2 large onions

2 eggs

250 g almond flour

salt and pepper

about 200 ml grape seed oil for frying

Method

Prepare a tray or baking sheet, by placing a sheet of baking paper in it. Pour the almond flour in the tray. In a separate bowl, whisk the two eggs and season with salt and pepper. Peel the onions and slice into 4mm thick slices. loosen the rings so that you have individual onion rings. Place the onions in the egg mixture and make sure every rings is coated with egg. Now place the onion rings on the almond flour and shake the tray so that every onion ring is coated with the flour. Leave in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. Heat the oil in a big pan adn when the oil is hot, fry the onion rings in batches to crunchy golden perfection.

Basil and Chili Mayo

makes 300 ml

Ingredients

1 jumbo egg

15ml water

15ml white vinegar

250 ml grape seed oil

a small handful fresh basil

1 small red chili

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Place the egg in the jug of your stick blender. Add the water and vinegar and lastly the oil. Now place the blade part of the blender over the egg and start the machine. Slowly bring the blender upwards while still blending, you will see the mayonnaise forming as you go along. Add the basil ad chili and blend. Taste and season to taste. Serve as a dipping sauce with the onion rings.