Let me preface this recipe by saying that I actual blooming onion before. I have wanted to try one, but when I heard that they were the single most unhealthy thing to eat, I just got turned off by the idea. That is until I started using my air fryer more, and figured, why not try to make an air-fried blooming onion? I have been playing around a lot with sourdough discard lately, so I figured using that as a marinade for the onion would be a great way to use up the sourdough starter. Originally, years ago, I had this idea to do like a blooming onion kakiage served with buckwheat soba, but I never actually went through it. Mostly because I did not want to actually consume a deep-fried blooming onion for health concerns, and also because making soba, while cool to look at, is very temperamental, and I just did not feel like doing it after having done it a few times in the past. Soba making is one of my lesser-preferred noodle making methods, namely because the dough dries easily and is super delicate. But I figured I would take aspects of that original dish, namely the blooming onion and a dark, rich, soba tsuyu-like sauce, and run with that instead! So between air frying, sourdough discard, and a two year-old idea for a dish, that is how we landed on an onion-forward air fried blooming onion with a caramelized onion jus!

For the components, we have a caramelized onion jus. Think French onion soup, but using mirin instead of cognac, so it is like a Japanese onion soup. The key here is to slowly cook the onions down so that the sugars have time to caramelize before you add the liquids to layer in more flavor. By doing that, your sauce will have this rich, sweet flavor to it that is highly reminiscent of a French onion soup. I used dried koji and soy sauce in the making of this recipe, because I wanted the jus to have this deep, rich flavor and a pronounced umami to play off of the sweetness of the onion. The end result did taste like if soba tsuyu(rich dark dipping sauce) had a baby with French onion soup. And I loved every sip of it. With the blooming onion itself, there is first a marinating process, which is done to draw out some of the funkier onion notes as well as tenderize the actual onion itself. The onion is then dusted with mochiko and cornstarch, then air-fried to get it crispy. Just to add a little greenness, since this is otherwise brown on more brown, I microwaved some parsley and crushed it into a fine green powder, which I sprinkled over the blooming onion to give it a pleasant almost mossy-looking finish. This recipe is a great way to use up any onions you are meaning to get rid of, since onion is being used in both the sauce and as the star of the dish!

For the onion jus:
1 white onion
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp dried koji
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1/2 cup vegetable stock

Peel and dice the onion. Cook the onion in a pot on medium heat with the canola oil, stirring frequently until the onion is deeply browned, at least 5 minutes of cooking. Add in the other ingredients and bring to a simmer, allowing the liquid to cook down by half. Pass the liquid through a sieve to remove any solids.

For the blooming onion:
2 tbsp sourdough discard(can sub with more milk)
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp cider vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
1 white onion
1/4 cup mochiko
2 tbsp cornstarch
a pinch of salt
Cooking spray

In a bowl, mix together the sourdough discard, milk, vinegar, and soy sauce, allowing that all to sit together to form your dredge. With the onion, peel off the outer layers and cut off the root side. Place the onion cut side down and slice down on the onion, 1/4 inch down from the pointed end. Repeat this 7 more times, making sure each cut is made equally apart from one another. Flip the onion upside down and gently separate the petals. Then place the down, blooming side down, into the dredge, allowing it to submerge in the liquid for at least 10 minutes. In another bowl, mix together the mochiko, cornstarch, and salt to form your coating. With the onion, scrape off any excess dredge and then sprinkle over that the coating, just to give a light layer of the starch over the dredged onion. Place the onion in an air fryer basket and spray with the cooking spray. Bake at 375 degrees F for 20 minutes.

For the parsley dust:
1oz fresh parsley leaves

Place the parsley leaves between two paper towels and microwave the leaves for 1 minute. Crush the dried leaves into a fine powder and dust over the top of the onion before serving.