VAS Littlecrow:

Foodie Friday: Amazing Recipe, Onion Trivia and BK Onion Rings Review

OMG! Hawaiian Coconut Crusted Vidalia® Onion Rings With Tamari-Ginger Dipping Sauce Recipe!!!

Image and recipe courtesy of the Vidalia Onion Committee

I am a huge onion ring fan. I love them and when I eat out, I will order them whenever possible. Oddly enough, my love for the rings has made me very hard to impress or surprise when it comes to the fried delight.  Well, Doug DuCap has succeeded turning my jaded tongue into a drooling school girl with a deeply rooted crush!

Wendy Brannen, Marketing Director of the Vidalia Onion Committee must’ve had a similar moment of onion ring rediscovery. This is what the friendly onion expert told me, “We had a gentleman who is an amateur chef, blogger and artist in the Charleston, NC area.  I happened to read some of the things he was doing, and thought it was really neat for him to have new onion ring recipes every day; Seven days of onion rings.”

Wendy was so impressed with Doug’s innovative onion ring recipes, that she arranged for the sexy fritters to get the Allium Cepa Top Model treatment. Chefs and recipe testers got to work and smoothed out the rough edges to bring out the full beauty of these bulbs.  Then, the food photographers and stylists gave these tasty teases the Ooh La L’allium treatment with a full professional shoot.  I’m not kidding about the teasing either.  Under normal circumstances it’s not advisable to eat model food after a long photoshoot, but that didn’t stop Doug’s creations from driving everyone insane with their intoxicating aroma.  Thanks to Wendy and the Vidalia Onion Committee, I get to share my personal favorite onion rings from the shoot, and you get to enjoy a recipe that will bring the glamour to you home.

Ingredients

Basic Batter:
1 cup self-rising flour
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
Coconut Crust:
¼ cup ground macadamia nuts
¼ cup ground almonds
1 tablespoon ground ginger
¼ cup sesame seeds
1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut
Oil for frying
1 large Vidalia® onion
Tamari-Ginger Dipping Sauce:
¼ cup chopped Vidalia® onion
¼ cup apple juice
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium tamari (or soy sauce)
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon finely grated, peeled fresh gingerroot
½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Instructions

Prepare the Tamari-Ginger Dipping Sauce; set aside.

Make the Basic Batter: Mix the flour, salt, and pepper in a medium size bowl. Add the eggs and milk, whisking gently until a smooth thick batter forms.

To make the Coconut Crust, stir the macadamia nuts, almonds, and ginger into the batter. In a shallow bowl, combine the sesame seeds and coconut.

In a large heavy skillet, pour the oil to a depth of ¾ inch and heat to 375°F. Peel the Vidalia onion and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices; separate the slices into individual rings. (Reserve the onion centers for another use.) Dip an onion ring into the batter, coating thickly, then dredge in the sesame/coconut mixture. Lay the onion ring gently in the hot oil and cook until underside is dark golden—about 2 minutes; turn and cook 2 to 3 minutes longer. Remove and drain on paper towels. Keep warm in a 200°F oven.

Repeat with remaining rings. Cook 2 to 3 rings at a time depending on the size of your skillet, taking care not to crowd the pan or let the temperature drop too much, which will result in greasy rings. Serve warm with Tamari-Ginger Dipping Sauce.

For the dipping sauce:

In a food processor or blender, combine all the ingredients and process until the onion is finely chopped. Makes 2/3 cup

Fun Facts About Onions

• The Western Mono Indians believed that the Pleiades constellation was formed by a group of wives that were kicked out by their husbands for eating too many onions.
• The Onion satirical newspaper was named after onion sandwiches that its founders were eating.
• In 1966, Susan Christie’s “I Love Onions” song made it the the Billboard 100 chart.
• Many Latin American cultures have a belief that onions enhance breast growth.  Although this is not true, women who eat onions are less likely to develop breast cancer, at least according to one Italian study.
• Onion flowers are a edible and go great in salads.
• Strong onion scents can be removed from hands by rubbing salt on them and then washing them afterwards.

Review of Burger King’s New Onion Rings

(I received a free full-sized sample of the reviewed onion rings from Burger King, and later purchased another sample to verify.  The opinions expressed in this review are 100% mine.)

I’ve been a huge fan of Burger King’s onion rings for most of my life.  Although I would’ve preferred whole onions over chopped and pre-formed, I really enjoyed those salty and morsels.  The mild breadcrumb coating always seemed to bring out the delicate sweetness of the onions.  It was pure guilty pleasure perfection.  Why did they have to mess with it?

The heavily spiced and just plain heavy breading on the new model rings completely overwhelm the subtlety of the inions.  Since the rings were larger and less consistent in size, I assumed that Burger King had switched to a lower grade whole onion. When I tore a ring open, I found chopped onion, but a lot less of it than before.  It was a great disappointment for me as a BK onion ring fan.

I really wish I could recommend BK’s new onion rings, but I just can’t.

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