STEEMIT IRONCHEF #15: ONIONS

I don't normally think of onions as being the main ingredient of a dish. However, @progressivechef proposed onions as this week's ingredient for the Steemit Ironchef competition, and after getting into the kitchen to prepare an onion-centric meal, I have found a new appreciation for this aromatic root veggie! So thank you, @progressivechef for setting this week's Steemit IronChef competition ingredient as the onion!

For this dish, I made miniature onion samosas with fragrant wrappers, pickled red onions, spicy onion chutney, roasted spiced baby onions, and spring onion (scallion) sauce.

The samosas were surprisingly easy to make. A dough made of self-rising flour, salt, butter, and water also includes coriander and cumin to add additional flavor to the wrapper. On the inside of the samosas, we've got finely diced white onion, white and sweet potato, garlic, cumin, chili, curry powder, turmeric, lemon juice, and cilantro, sauteed in olive oil and allowed to cool.

To make the samosas, I rolled the dough out into 6 inch circles, cut each circle in half, made a cone out of the semi-circle, and then added the filling. Using water I sealed all of the edges of the dough, and then each samosa got a quick fry in vegetable oil.

Full of fragrant spices and bright citrus combined with the aromatic onions in the different components of the dish to create a meal that is pleasing to the palate. Now that I know how to make samosas, I might need to put them in as part of our regular dinner rotation!

For the onion chutney, I sauteed olive oil, lime juice, tomato paste, paprika, finely diced jalapenos, curry powder, a pinch of sugar, and cumin over medium heat for a few minutes until fragrant. I then transferred the tomato paste mixture to some raw diced white onions and cilantro. The residual heat of the tomato and spice mixture softened the onions and allowed them to release additional flavor.

For the red onion pickles, I combined thinly sliced red onion with white vinegar, sugar, and salt, and added water to cover the onions. These sat on the counter for about 1 hour while I prepared the rest of the dish. They have a perfectly sweet and sour flavor, and the pickling liquid only slightly softened the onions so they maintained a pleasant crunch.

The roasted spiced onions were so easy and so delicious - I cut nearly all the way through the onion several times from top to bottom, and tossed the entire little onions in olive oil, smoked paprika, cumin, and salt. Covered with foil, these little onions roasted in a 425F onion until they were soft throughout.

For the spring onion sauce, I blended roughly chopped spring onions, olive oil, salt, and lime juice until the mixture was nearly smooth. This sauce is bright and lively!