-We actually had someone
come into the restaurant asking,
like, demanding for the onion.
They're like, "We flew all
the way from New York for this."
And I'm like, "We don't
have it on the menu."
♪♪
Hi. My name is Mei Lin.
I'm from Nightshade restaurant
in Los Angeles,
and I'm here to make a tom yum
onion, AKA a blooming onion.
So here we have
some Vidalia onions.
These are really sweet,
and they're not abrasive.
At the restaurant,
we use Maui onions.
They're just a flatter onion.
They kind of sit on the plate
really nice,
and so they don't, like,
wobble around.
We would go through like
cases on cases of onions
just so we can sort them to
the perfect shape that we want.
So we're just going to cut this
and peel that outer skin off.
I grew up in a suburb
of Detroit,
and Outback would be
one of those places
that I would go to after school
with a few of my friends,
and, you know, our go-to dish
was the blooming onion,
so this is kind of
my inspiration of that dish.
It's just with
different flavors.
So we're just going to cut
and rotate.
And see how I'm just using
my thumb to push the blade down?
We want to make sure we don't go
all the way to the root
because this is what is going to
keep the onion together.
I actually like to go about
1/4 inch when cutting.
It's, like,
the perfect petal size,
and we actually hand-cut this
at the restaurant.
♪♪
We're just going to cut it down
a little bit more
so we can make it bloom.
I tried a bunch of different
ways to cut the onion,
like, really thin
and really thick,
kind of finding, like,
that happy medium.
You want it crispy, and you want
it to retain that shape
when it comes
out of the fryer, as well.
I'm just going to separate
all the layers
because we want it to cook
evenly in the fryer.
♪♪
So we have this middle core
right here
that we're actually
going to take out
because it doesn't
cook very well.
Like, we'll probably prep around
40 onions a day.
It probably takes me about
40 minutes or so.
Like, every table would get one.
Someone sees one on a table.
They're like,
"All right. What is that?
I got to have that.
Like, that looks fun.
We got to try it now."
So here is this finished onion.
We're actually going to soak it
in buttermilk.
We just want to make sure
that all the buttermilk
gets into all the layers.
You can wait for it to soak
in the liquid before dredging.
It's actually better
to kind of have it soaking
and then have it
sit in the flour
just so it doesn't kind of
sog out in the fridge.
So we have our onion soaking in
the buttermilk liquid
for about five minutes before we
dredge in the dredging flours.
[ Chuckles ]
For the dredge,
we actually went pretty simple
because you want to really
just get a nice crunch on it
because you want to taste
the flavor of the onion.
We have all-purpose.
We have our cornstarch, our rice
flour, baking powder, and salt.
So what I'm going to do
right now
is actually put on some gloves
because this is going to get
a little messy.
I'm just going to mix
the flours thoroughly
before adding the onion.
I went through like
10 trials of making dredge,
trying to find the ratios.
That's why I use
a rice flour and cornstarch mix.
The starch helps a lot
because that actually ensures
that the dredge would be crispy.
All right. So we have our onion.
We're just going to add this
to the flour.
Layer by layer, we're going to
get that flour in there
so it's coated nice.
So this is, like, basically
the most time-consuming
of the process.
We basically have, like,
two people just dredging.
It's pretty insane, but we make
a few at home, and it's perfect.
It's, like, the best party food.
It really is.
You really want to ensure
that each layer is coated
because you want
to cook it thoroughly.
This is it.
So really it's, like, perfect
when you let it sit and cure
for about,
you know, 10 to 15 minutes.
I'm going to just
leave that out, actually.
♪♪
You can't really have the onion
without sauce.
These are all the ingredients
that we're going to use
for our dipping sauce.
It's just our version
of a ranch.
It's a coconut ranch,
and we're going to start off
by zesting our limes.
Here we have the zest
in the bowl.
I'm going to go ahead
and cut the garlic chives.
So if you can't find
garlic chives at the store,
regular chives
works just as well.
The tops are buds,
and we can use those, as well.
It's just a lot more flavor.
So we have the coconut cream.
Coconut cream actually gives it
a lot more body,
so it's thicker,
but also for flavor, as well.
Coconut milk.
We're going to get our garlic.
This dish actually
fit in pretty well
with the menu at Nightshade
just because it was, like,
a great, fun starter
that can kind of get
that conversation started.
Just something
that everybody can kind of
get their hands dirty with.
It's a crowd-pleaser.
We're actually going to
transfer this into the blender
and just kind of blend this
until it's smooth.
♪♪
So now we have the finished
product in the blender,
and now we're going to add
the lime juice.
We have salt, some sugar,
and sour cream and mayonnaise.
So the reason why we don't blend
the rest of these ingredients
with the stuff that we blended
is because
I don't want it to fall flat.
Like, this is going to give
the sauce
a lot of body and viscosity.
We're just going to whisk the
rest of these ingredients in.
Last put not least,
the coconut vinegar.
What we're looking for is an
emulsion of all the ingredients,
but we're going to add this
into the whipper,
just like you can use
for whipped cream at home.
It just aerates
the dipping sauce
and kind of makes everything
a little bit lighter.
You just want to make sure
you shake it
while you charge it, as well.
In the restaurant, we actually
like to tell our cooks
to shake it about 25 times.
So if you don't have
one of these at home,
the sauce as is works perfectly.
You just make sure you chill it
a little bit.
♪♪
And here, I just like to test it
a little bit,
just to see
if it comes out like we want.
And then that happens,
so that's always fun, too.
[ Laughs ]
I've never used this one before
because this one
is a little tight.
That's why.
Okay, perfect.
We're going to leave this
in the fridge to chill
while we fry this onion.
So the key is, you want
to have it fry upside down
before you flip it in the fryer
just to ensure
all those layers are cooked.
So we're going to go ahead
and drop this bad boy in.
Oh, it's creating steam,
so you kind of want to stay back
a little bit, just to make sure
you don't get burned.
We're probably going to cook it
for another
three to five minutes.
So it's starting to get
golden-brown around the edge.
We can start to flip this guy.
This is, like,
the reveal right here,
so we know that
it's nicely cooked.
All right.
It's time to pull this guy out.
♪♪
Right now is actually
the best time to sprinkle on
our tom yum spice
because the onion
is still nice and hot.
It has tamarind,
kaffir lime leaves, galangal,
lemongrass, ginger,
onion, garlic, salt, and sugar.
I wanted to make a spice
that would kind of lend well
to the flavor of the onion.
So you have this item
that's deep-fried, rich, fatty.
You want to cut it
with a lot of acid.
All right, so this is ready,
and we're going to spray this
into our ramekin.
♪♪
And this is our finished dish.
♪♪
The best way
to tackle this thing
is kind of
just get at the layers.
I kind of like to start
on the outside,
kind of work my way in,
just kind of take a dip.
♪♪
Nice and crunchy.
Literally lightens up
the whole dish,
dipping it in the sauce.
Mmm.
I wouldn't say it's better than
Outback, but...
For the recipe,
click the link below,
and come into Nightshade
for some fun goodies.
♪♪
♪♪
