| 1 | Cut off and discard the top half-inch of the onions. |
| 2 | Peel them but do not cut off the root end. |
| 3 | Place each onion, root end up, on a cutting board. |
| 4 | With a sharp, pointed knife, make vertical cuts all around the onion about a quarter inch apart. |
| 5 | Start the cut a quarter-inch from the root for small onions or a half-inch from the root for very large ones. |
| 6 | Make sure the knife goes into the center of the onion. |
| 7 | Place all the onions in a large bowl of cold water, add ice cubes, cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight. |
| 8 | The onions will open up like mums. |
| 9 | Drain upside-down when ready to proceed. |
| 10 | In a large bowl, mix together thoroughly the flour, baking powder and spices. |
| 11 | In another bowl, beat together the eggs and milk. |
| 12 | Dip the onions one by one into the egg mixture, opening the petals with your fingers; let the excess drip off, and place in flour. |
| 13 | Work the flour mixture into the center gently with fingertips. |
| 14 | Shake off excess flour and repeat egg dip and flouring, shaking off the excess thoroughly. |
| 15 | Half-fill a deep fryer or large, deep, heavy pot with oil. |
| 16 | (the author of this recipe used the bottom of her pressure cooker -- a small electric fryer will not do). |
| 17 | Heat the oil to 360f or until a small piece of dry bread turns deep gold in 15 seconds. |
| 18 | Fry the onions without crowding them -- one at a time for large ones ~- keeping them submerged with a spatula or by placing the frying basket on top of them. |
| 19 | Plunge them in root end up and turn them over once. |
| 20 | To serve at once, fry large onions for about six or seven minutes, small ones for five minutes, or until deep gold. |
| 21 | Drain upside-down on paper towels; then invert on a serving plate. |
| 22 | Keep warm in a low oven while frying the others. |
| 23 | Remove the centers of large onions with a very sharp knife. |
| 24 | Small onions may be left whole or the center can be scooped out with a melon-ball cutter. |
| 25 | If serving the next day, fry the onions until pale gold; do not fry completely. |
| 26 | Let cool. |
| 27 | When ready to serve, reheat the oil to 380f and fry the onions just long enough to heat and brown, about 15 seconds. |
| 28 | Drain and serve. |
| 29 | To get the same taste without making mums, simply cut onions ver- tically to make "petals" or crosswise and separate into rings. |
| 30 | This can be done ahead and the petals or rings kept in ice water. egg, flour and fry as above |
