O is for onion rings

Next up, onion rings. I've always been a big fan of their work, but have never attempted to make my own at home.

A bit of idle Googling later, and I found a recipe on the Post Punk Kitchen for baked onion rings. It was like the recipe was calling my name - time to get a-breadin' and a-batterin'.

The recipe calls for vidalia or walla walla onions. In my unlovely corner of South London, there are but two kinds of onions - red and white, and not a vidalia among them.

Maybe red ones would have been better - they're sweeter and by all accounts sweet onions is what this recipe called for, but who's ever seen a red onion ring?

Here's how they turned out:

The onion rings themselves were a little bit dry, and the breadcrumbs tended to clump together or fall off, making a slightly raggedy-looking ring! I think I'd use panko crumbs if I made these again - the wholewheat crumbs were from a loaf I had to hand, and probably not dried-out and crispy enough for the recipe.

All in all, not the first incursion into onions rings I was hoping for.

I recently learnt to deep-fry stuff properly (it had always seemed too much effort and cleaning up to try before) at Atsuko's Kitchen, a Japanese cooking school I've been to a few times. I'm tempted to give onion rings another go, only this time with a great whacking cauldron of hot oil, and batter instead of breadcrumbs.

At least, that is, until South London becomes the vidalia capital of the world...