Dill pickle onion rings

My newest addition to The Potato Chip Diaries, inspired by the iconic, the one and only, dill pickle potato chips!

These are a very important chip, so I had to take this seriously.

I pickled the onions in dill pickle brine, dredged in dill pickle batter and coated in dill pickle potato chip seasoning.

They were electric! So crunchy and golden and full of that pickle tang. I HOPE YOU MAKE THEM! <3

Ingredients:

2 red onions, sliced into rings

750ml neutral oil, for frying

1 cup cornstarch

Dill pickle pickling liquid:

2 cups white vinegar

2 cups water

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp fine cooking salt

4 garlic cloves, smashed

2 tsp mustard seeds

2 tsp peppercorns

handful of fresh dill

1 bay leaf, optional

1 celery stalk, cut in half, optional

Dill pickle potato chip seasoning:

2 cups dill pickle potato chips

1 tsp dried dill tops (not seed)

1 tsp salt

Dill pickle batter:

180g all-purpose flour, sifted

1/2 tsp baking powder, sifted

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp fine cooking salt

1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

2 tsp dried dill tops (not seed)

1 tsp onion powder

350ml sparkling water

Method:

Prep onions: slice red onions into large rings, removing the outer skin, any loose membranes and the top and bottoms.

Pickle the onions: add all dill pickle pickling liquid ingredients to a pot and bring to a rapid boil. Once boiling, remove from heat. Pour over red onion rings in a heat-proof bowl. Leave to pickle at room temperature for 30 mins.

Make the dill pickle potato chip seasoning: add potato chips to a blender or a mortar and pestle, or a plastic ziplock bag. Blend, grind or crush until a fine crumb is achieved, like sand. Add dried dill and salt and mix to combine. Set aside.

Dry the onions: after pickling, lay onions onto a paper towel lined surface and place another paper towel on top to absorb any liquid, since they need to be super dry before moving onto the next step. Discard the pickling liquid & aromatics. Dab the paper towel over the onion slices to get them as dry as possible without breaking their shape.

Coat in corn starch: after drying, add the onions to a bowl with corn starch, tossing to coat evenly.

Mix batter: add all ingredients for the dill pickle batter to a mixing bowl, adding sparkling water very last once you’ve mixed all the dry ingredients. Mix in the sparkling water until there are no clumps left.

Fry: pour neutral oil into a shallow fry pan. Bring to high heat, about 185C/365F. Once the oil is hot, add as many onions into the batter that you think will fit in one batch of frying. Coat generously in the batter then transfer into the hot oil. It should sizzle straight away and fry for a total of 3 mins, flipping halfway through. It should be a medium golden brown after 3 mins. Adjust the heat as needed and fry in batches, careful to not overcrowd the pan. Skim off any excess batter pieces in the oil in between batches.

Garnish: transfer the freshly fried onion rings straight from the oil to a wire rack to cool & dry. After 1-2 mins, transfer each onion ring into the potato chip seasoning to coat on both sides. Transfer back to the wire rack to cool.

Assemble: serve with a dill pickle mayo (just mayo mixed with grated pickle, salt and a touch of dijon) or on their own. Enjoy straight away!