Crispy Baked Onion Rings

                  
                  There is no love sincerer than the love of food - George Bernard Shaw

As a passionate foodie, the above quote makes me nod my head, as a weight watching and (weight-gaining foodie), the quote makes me sigh! Love for food leads to the constant quest to make food taste better while trying to reduce the impact on the bathroom scales, wishing that I can have my cake and eat it too! Double sigh!!  While I do love eating deep-fried food once in a while (who doesn't?), I do not love these enough to make an effort to make these at home. Thankfully my mind and my taste-buds both welcome baked versions of the usually fried snack/dish as much as the deep-fried ones. And when baked / low fat versions come close to the taste of deep-fried counterparts, its difficult not to like them! I love Low Fat Potato Wafers   and Masala Peanuts, I keep making them at least to show folks that its possible and now found these baked onion rings! The Baked Onion Rings on Ayeesha's blog looked super inviting and had to be tried! Am glad I did - Crisp, satisfying onion rings to go with your cuppa - as you watch the rain pouring...

A simple, really easy recipe which can be put together really quickly if you have cornflakes and bread crumbs on hand ( I normally don't have either at home). Perfect for feeding 2-4 people, but may not be a great idea to bake in batches for a larger crowd. The onion rings are dipped in a batter of egg, flour, buttermilk and seasoning, dredged in a mixture of processed bread-crumbs and cornflakes. Baked on a hot, oiled baked sheet, these give you about 10 onion rings for about a tablespoon of oil! In my opinion, low fat versions cannot taste the same as deep-fried, at best can only come close - and I am content with that. So allowing that margin will leave you happier when you try these..

Recipe as on Taste Of Pearl City, original recipe from Martha Stewart. The original recipe has more cornflakes, Ayeesha has used less. More cornflakes gives a more coarse mouth-feel whereas less gives a smoother taste, I liked using equal parts of cornflakes and crumbs as Ayeesha does.

Ingredients

• Cornflakes - 1 Cup ( Martha Stewart uses 1 1/2 cups)
  
• Plain dried breadcrumbs - 1 cup
  
• Egg -  1 large
• Low-fat buttermilk - 1/2 cup ( I used 3 parts yogurt, 1 part milk)
  
• All-purpose flour / Maida - 1/4 cup
• Cayenne pepper - 1/8 teaspoon
• Coarse salt and ground pepper - to taste
  
• 2 medium sized onions sliced into rings about 1cm thick (reserve the smaller rings for another use)
• Olive oil or Vegetable Oil - 2 tablespoons
  

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 220 degrees C / 425 degrees F. Grease a rimmed baking sheet with half a tablespoon of oil or more ( depending on the size of the tray and the number of rings you can fit in. I used a 6x10 tray, could fit about 10 rings, used 1 tablespoon oil in all) Keep aside. Have another large plate ready to place the crumb coated rings in. Do not  place the rings directly on the tray as its imperative to have the tray hot when you place the rings.
   
2. In a food processor, pulse cornflakes and breadcrumbs until fine crumbs form, then transfer to a  bowl. Take some of the mixture in a tray. As you dredge the rings, the mixture tends t clump, so you are better off using part of the mixture at a time. In another medium bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk, flour, and cayenne and season with salt and pepper.
   
3. Dip onion rings in egg mixture (letting excess drip off) and dredge in cornflake mixture; place on a large plate. Pour oil onto a rimmed baking sheet. Place in the oven and heat for 2 minutes. Remove the sheet from the oven and tilt to coat evenly with oil. Arrange onion rings on the sheet.
   
4. Bake for about 8-10 minutes on one side till golden, flip the rings, then add another 1/2 tablespoon oil ( to help the dryish looking top halves of the rings bake better), gently tilt the sheet to coat the rings with oil. Bake until the rings are golden brown another 8-10 minutes. Watch carefully after 6-7 minutes as they turn to burn pretty fast.
5. Serve hot. These crisp up as they cool. Do not store as they taste best eaten as soon as they are made.

Please note : The cornflakes are the kind meant to be deep-fried, typically used in savory mixtures. Called makai ka chiwda, you will find them in most super markets and smaller provision stores too. Do not slice the onions very thin as they shrink as they bake. Do not worry about the amount of onion or crumb mixture or batter, you will be left with excess of these. So its only a matter of slicing another onion.

The crumbs did not coat the rings perfectly and am sure you have seen prettier onion rings, but these taste good! I shall be making these again, thanks Ayeesha for sharing this keeper of a recipe!