Frittering Away a Saturday Afternoon

A few days ago Tamara M, an internet friend of mine posted her tweaked recipe of onion pancakes that she saw on Just a Pinch posted by Toni T. I gazed lovingly at her pictures and read the recipe and knew it was going to be the way I was going to spend my Saturday afternoon. I had to have these crispy, crunchy morsels of chopped onions and seasoned batter. These gals call them pancakes, but to me they are fritters. Crispy in certain places and chewy in others and knobby and free formed all the way. So as you can see, I frittered away the afternoon and am O! so happy I did. Here's Tamara's recipe with a bit of tweaking from me:

Onion Fritters
Makes 12 to 15 small to medium size fritters

2-1/2 cups chopped onions, about 1/4 inch
3/4 cup AP flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 T Splenda no calorie sweetener (sugar will work too of course)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup low fat buttermilk
1/2 cup fat free half and half
canola oil for frying


Clone Recipe for Outback's Bloomin' Onion Dip
From the internet, Tamara's suggestion as well and boy is it good!

1/2 cup mayo (you know I use the light)
2 tsp ketchup
2 T horseradish
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
pinch of dried oregano
1/8 tsp black pepper
dash of cayenne pepper

To make the dip, combine all ingredients with a small whisk and set aside in fridge while you're assembling the onion fritters.

To make the fritters, chop 2 medium onions which should give you the 2-1/2 cups necessary. In medium size bowl combine your dry ingredients (AP flour to kosher salt). Mix with a whisk or fork to combine and add your buttermilk and half and half, and then onions. (Although neither Tamara or Toni used buttermilk, I had some in my fridge and decided I'd give it a try. Love the tang, and next time I will use buttermilk only and see how that turns out.) By the way, your batter will be rather thick.

In large saucepan on medium/high heat add enough canola oil to cover bottom of pan, and then some. Maybe about 1/4 inch coverage all around. Place Tablespoons of the batter in the oil and saute for about 2 minutes on the first side. You'll know when to turn them over when you see the edges getting slightly brown, like this:

Flip them over and cook another 2 minutes or so on side two. Looking and smelling good already.

Drain on paper towels and serve. I made mine in 2 batches and kept the first batch warm in a low oven.

Give these a try with the Outback sauce. Or serve them with any type of sauce you like with your fried onion rings. I promise, you won't be disappointed!

And I'm now realizing it's going to be football season in a bit. This is great game food, and you'll want to make extra. Thanks Tamara and Toni, great recipe!