How to Make Gigantic Southern Style Sweet Corn Onion Rings Without a Deep Fryer

This onion ring recipe captures the flavor of sweet summer corn and wraps it around the onion in a golden, pillowy crust. Perfect with grilled food of all kinds.

This recipe uses canned corn, but you can make it using fresh corn scraped off the cob. Adjust the salt and sugar to your taste. A nominal amount of garlic powder is invoked for its mysterious power to enhance the flavor of corn while not making its own presence known.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1 can (about 15 oz) cream-style corn (I use Del Monte because they add less sugar)
• 1 cup self-rising flour (plus additional if needed)
• 1/8 tsp white pepper (or more to taste)
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt

1. Pulse the corn in a food processor or blender until nearly smooth. Remove to a bowl and whisk in the flour 1/4 cup at a time until a thick batter is achieved. Whisk in the spices and set aside. Heat 1/2 to 3/4 inches oil in a heavy skillet to 375 degrees.

2. Dip an onion ring into the batter, coating thickly. Lay it gently into the oil and cook until golden, turning once. Remove and drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining rings. You can do 2-3 at a time depending on the size of your skillet, but take care not to crowd the pan or let the temperature drop too much, or the rings will turn out greasy.

3. Variations & Serving Suggestions:
   
   A pinch or three of cayenne adds a little counterbalance to the corn's sweetness.
   
   Add some finely minced sweet red or green pepper, or finely minced pickled jalapeno to the batter.
   
   Take a large soft kaiser roll, put a big onion ring on the bottom half, put a heap of smoky pulled pork inside the onion ring, top with creamy cole slaw, put the lid on, bite. The great outdoors just got greater, didn't it?

Tips & Warnings

• I used yellow onions and Vidalias in these recipes and they both produced fine results. Use the biggest onions you can find (there's no such thing as too big!) and cut them 3/4 of an inch thick. Don't worry about the onion being 'raw' or too strong: by the time the coating cooks, the onion will be mellow and tender (while still holding its shape.)
• If you want to fit more in your skillet or fryer, you can break the onion slices into large chunks and make jumbo-sized Onion Chips (a favorite in Eastern PA); batter, dredge, and fry them the same as rings.
• Some of the proportions will be approximate depending on the size of the onions you use, how much you choose to coat them, how spicy or sweet, etc. Let your own tastes be your guide and feel free to improvise and experiment.

Resources

• See More eHow Articles From HuggingtheCoast
• Hugging the Coast: A Celebration of Coastal Life and Food
• Enjoy More of Doug DuCap's Original Recipes!

[luv2blog]

on 7/4/2008 Sounds delicious!!! Thanks.

[akchrist]

on 6/29/2008 These sound really good!

[Karenc1972]

on 6/26/2008 Wow these sound fantastic!

[amylaine]

on 6/25/2008 Oh, this will be a hit in my house.

[acole]

on 6/25/2008 Yummy! I recently went on vacation to Myrtle Beach and we went to a Calibash where they had awesome Hush Puppies. They were sweet. Up here in the north Hush Puppies usually taste like onion, so I was happily suprised by the wonderful sweet taste. Do you have a recipe for those? Thanks!