Blooming Onion

I love any type of fried onion with dipping sauce as an appetizer.  Do you? Have you heard about the famous appetizer from Outback Steakhouse?   Outback Steakhouse’s Blooming Onion is one of the most popular and known restaurant favorites in America, maybe the world.  It is a whole Vidalia onion that is sliced to resemble a flower, coated in batter, and deep fried until golden brown.  While the onion cooks, the petals move away from the center of the onion, creating a blooming effect.

The concept behind this dish is that it’s one large fried whole onion that can be shared among friends. It’s absolutely delicious, as the onion is soft and tender on the inside, but crispy and well seasoned on the outside. The Blooming Onion is generally served as an appetizer with a spicy sauce seasoned with horseradish.

It used to be my favorite appetizer, but unfortunately, I haven’t had one of these in years because I couldn’t find any Outback Steakhouse Restaurant in the neighborhood.   But who needs Outback when you can eat it at home? Yep, now you can make this blooming onion along with the creamy chili sauce at home anytime you have the craving.

Blooming onion will be a delight for all onion lovers.  Those who love onion rings will fall in love with this dish even more.  It may not be the healthiest dish, but if you are trying to impress your guests, this is the one.  The onion is totally sexy and words can’t describe how delicious this onion looks.

This copycat recipe is easy to follow and I had so much fun making it.  To make a beautiful onion flower, you need to use a single-heart onions, which most onions are.  Be sure to cut the onion to about three-fourths of the way down.  Do not cut down to the bottom of the onion.  If you soak the onion in cold water for 10 minutes after you cut it, it should open up and it will tone down the intense onion taste. 

The dipping sauce is just like the one at Outback, but it can also be anything you like.  You can mix mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, pepper, salt, oregano, and even Tabasco sauce together, stir it thoroughly.  If you don’t have western spices available in your market, try to mix a raw yolk, vinegar, chili, and add some oil, stir it thoroughly.

Blooming Onion

For recipe in Indonesian click HERE

Ingredients:

Blooming Onion

·         1 large (or 2-3 medium) sweet onion (white, red, or yellow)

·         2 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

·         1 tablespoon paprika

·         ½ teaspoon dried thyme

·         ½ teaspoon dried oregano

·         ½ teaspoon ground cumin

·         Freshly ground black pepper

·         2 large eggs

·         1 cup whole milk

·         Kosher salt

·         Vegetable oil for frying

Dipping Sauce

·         ½ cup mayonnaise

·         2 tablespoons sour cream

·         1 tablespoon ketchup

·         ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

·         1 tablespoon drained horseradish

·         ¼ teaspoon paprika

·         Pinch of cayenne pepper

·         1/8 teaspoon dried oregano

·         Kosher salt

·         Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1.       Mix all dry ingredients together (flour, cayenne pepper, paprika, thyme, oregano, cumin, ground black pepper) in one bowl and wet ingredients (eggs and milk) together in another bowl.

2.       Peel the onion, keeping the hairy root intact.  Cut about 1 inch of the other side.

3.       Place the onion on a chopping board, hairy side facing up.  Make your first cut about an inch from the top of the root, and slice downward all the way to the bottom, without cutting all the way through.  Rotate the onion 90^o and repeat.  Keep going until you have 4 evenly spaced cuts.

4.       Now make equally spaced cuts in between these 4 cuts.  Continue slicing between each section until you have 12-16 evenly spaced cuts.  How many cuts you make depends on the size of the onion, the sharpness of your knife, and your steady hand.

5.       Turn the onion over and use your fingers to gently separate the outer spaces – the petals.  To help keep them separate, you could plunge the onion into  the boiling water for 1 minute and then into cold water.

6.       Put the blooming onion onto a plate and sprinkle over the dry ingredients, making sure all the layers are covered.  Turn it upside down and shake to get rid of any excess flour mixture.

7.       Submerge the onion into wet ingredients and turn it over to make sure every petal of the onion is covered.  Take it out and coat with the flour mixture again, this time just shaking it over to covers all areas.

8.       Heat oil in a deep fryer or deep pot to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Make sure you use enough oil to completely cover the onion when it fries.  Fry the onion, flower side up.  7-10 minutes will make sure you are left with crispy, golden beauty,  but keep an eye on it.  When you retrieve the onion, the petals will have unfurled even more, so that you have a truly blooming onion.  Give it a shake, then put it on some paper towels to drain off the excess oil.  Open the onion wider from the center so that you can put a small dish of dipping sauce in the center.

9.       To make the sauce: in a medium bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well.  Keep sauce in refrigerator until needed.

Bahasa Indonesia

Bahan:

Blooming Onion

·         1 buah (atau 2-3 buah ukuran medium) bawang bombay ukuran besar (putih, merah, atau kuning)

·         2 cups tepung terigu serbaguna

·         1 sdt bubuk cabe

·         1 sdm paprika

·         ½ sdt daun thyme kering

·         ½ sdt oregano kering

·         ½ sdt bubuk jinten

·         Merica hitam, tumbuk kasar

·         2 butir telur

·         1 cup susu cair

·         Garam

·         Minyak sayur untuk menggoreng

Dipping Sauce

·         ½ cup mayones

·         2 sdm sour cream

·         1 sdm saus tomat

·         ½ sdt kecap inggris

·         1 sdm saus horseradish 

·         ¼ sdt paprika

·         Sedikit bubuk cabe

·         1/8 sdt oregano kering

·         Garam

·         Merica hitam, tumbuk kasar

Cara:

1.       Campur semua  bahan kering (tepung, bubuk cabe, paprika, thyme, oregano, jintan, lada hitam) dalam satu mangkuk dan bahan basah (telur dan susu) dalam mangkuk lain.

2.        Kupas bawang bombay, biarkan bagian akarnya. Potong sekitar 1 inci bagian atasnya.

3.       Tempatkan bawang bowmbay di talenan, dengan bagian akar menghadap ke atas. Buatlah irisan pertama sekitar satu inci dari bagian atas akar sampai ke bawah.  Putar posisi bawang bombay 90^o dan ulangi membuat irisan yang sama. Lakukan sampai Anda mempunyai 4 irisan dengan jarak yang sama.

4.       Sekarang buatlah irisan dengan jarak/lebar yang sama di antara 4 irisan pertama. Lanjutkan mengiris di antara setiap bagian sampai didapat 12-16 irisan dengan jarak/lebar yang sama. Berapa banyak irisan yang Anda buat tergantung pada ukuran bawang bombay, ketajaman pisau, dan keahlian Anda dalam mengiris.

5.       Balik posisi bawang bombay dengan bagian akar di bawah. Dengan pelan dan hati-hati, buka masing-masing ‘kelopak’ bawang bombay dengan jari-jari Anda.  Jaga jangan sampaikelopak terlepas.  Untuk memudahkan kelopak membuka, rebus bawang bombay dalam air mendidih selama 1 menit, kemudian rendam dalam air dingin selama 10 menit.  

6.       Letakkan bawang bombay yang sudah mekar di atas piring atau mangkuk, lapisi semua kelopak dengan bahan kering (campuran terigu berbumbu).  Goyangkan untuk menghilangkan kelebihan terigu.

7.       Celup bawang bombay mekar ke dalam larutan basah (adonan telur dan susu), balikkan  dan pastikan semua bagian tertutup adonan telur.  Angkat dan lapisi sekali lagi dengan bahan kering. Pastikan semua bagian tertutup bahan kering.

8.       Panaskan minyak dalam wajan atau panci dengan suhu 350 derajat F (175 derajat C). Pastikan Anda menggunakan minyak yang cukup agar bawang bombay terendam ketika digoreng.  Goreng bawang bombay dengan posisi kelopak di atas selama 7-10 menit atau sampai bagian luarnya berwarna kuning keemasan dan kering.  Ketika diangkat dari minyak panas, kelopak bawang bombay akan semakin mekar.  Goyangkan untuk menghilangkan kelebihan minyak dan letakkan di atas wadah yang dialasi tisu makan.  Lebarkan kelopak dari bagian tengah sehingga Anda dapat meletakkan wadah kecil berisi saus celup di tengahnya.

9.       Untuk membuat saus:  dalam mangkuk, campurkan semua bahan dan aduk rata. Simpan dalam lemari pendingin sampai akan digunakan.