Onion Rings

On Saturday when I got a phone call asking if I could use a pound of onions I said yes with out even thinking about what I was going to use them for...Stew? Eh, still too hot out for stew.  Definitely won't stay good until Thanksgiving.  Not in the mood to make stuffing.  AH HA!  ONION RINGS!!!  Personally, I love onion rings, but hate all of the soggy batter, and I think nothing is worse than biting into an onion ring and the string of onion pulling all the way out of the batter round.  So, when I was thinking about this recipe, I realized that I did not want to go the route of a batter!  What I enjoyed most about making these onion rings, is that I could control all of the variables:  what kind of oil I cooked them in, the types and amount of spices, how thick or thin they are cut, etc.  With that being said, don't be afraid or hesitant to change the recipe to suit your taste or wishes!  Make them your own, or by all means, enjoy the recipe as is!

Onion Rings
Yields 3 servings

To Prepare the Onions
1. Cut 3 medium onions into rounds and separate the rounds apart from each other.
2. Put the onions in a bowl and cover with milk.  Why milk?  Milk takes away the harsh onion flavor.  If you don't want to take away that flavor, you can soak them in water, or if you are lactose intolerant you can go the route of water, soy milk, Lactaid, or rice milk.  Later, the moisture from this soak will help the dry dredge stick to the onions.  This is also helpful if you are entertaining and don't want to do all of this work once your company arrives. 

Onion rings soaking in milk

3. Refrigerate the onions while they soak for at least 30 minutes. 

To Prepare the Dredge
1. Put 6 tablespoons of cornstarch in a bowl.  You don't have to use cornstarch to make onion rings, but I prefer it because it makes a crunchier texture once the rings are fried!  If you don't want to buy cornstarch, you can use rice flour, regular flour, corn meal, or even pancake batter!  Pancake batter will give your onion rings a slightly sweet flavor.
2. Add 1 tablespoon of salt.
3. Add 1 tablespoon of black pepper.
4. Add 1 tablespoon of paprika.  (I went heavy on the paprika because I like spicy food, so if you are not a fan of heat, cut this down to at least 1/2 a tablespoon, or you can completely remove it from the recipe, or replace it with another spice, such as garlic powder, curry powder, etc.)

To Make the Onion Rings
1. Pour the onion rings and the fluid they were in through a colander.
2. Shake the onion rings off well to remove excess fluid.
3. Dredge the onion rings through the dry mix.  Dredge means to coat them:  You can do this by shaking them in a ziplock baggie with the dry mix or by simply mixing them with the dry mix in a bowl or dish.

Onion rings, post dredging!

4. Put approximately 1/2 a cup of oil in a frying pan and start heating over medium heat. I used olive oil to make mine, but you can use vegetable oil, soy oil, peanut oil, etc!  You can control how "healthy" your rings are, or work around food allergies you may have.  If you are making these for people you do not know well, avoid peanut oil in case of allergies! 

Heating the oil

5. Test the oil by tossing in a small ring.  If it starts to make the sizzle sound, go ahead and put in 1/3 of the onions.  Cook them until they start to brown on one side, and then flip them over so they cook evenly.

Cooking one side...

And then the other!

6. Once the onions are brown on both sides, place them on top of some paper towels on a plate.  The paper towels will absorb excess oil.  When you are cooking the rings, keep in mind that because of the oil, they will continue to cook for a little bit once they are out of the pan.

Done cooking, and ready to eat!

7. Cook the remaining 2/3 of onions in two batches and serve!