Instructions: Sit the onionsupright and using a long bladed knife slice down and through without severing completely.

Repeat this bisecting the halves so that you have four quarters still joined at the root.

Halve each quarter then halve the eighths and carry on until the onion resembles a giant chrysanthemum.

Put the onions into a bowl of heavily iced water (not the 400ml ) for an hour to encourage flowering then drain.

Meanwhile make the dip by beating together the sour cream mayonnaise smoked paprika worsestershire sauce and tomato puree and season lightly.

Shortly before serving liberally coat the onion flowers in the flour (making shure all of the petals are covered) and sprinkle lightly with salt.

To make the tempura batter beat the egg yolks with the iced water then add the flour and a teaspoon of salt and stir briefly.

The batter should be lumpy.

One at a time dunk a floured onion into the batter and then put it straight into hot oil to deepfry until crisp but not too coloured.

Check that all of the batter is cooked to the core then drain on pieces of kitchen roll.

Serve while hot and crisp with little bowls of smoky cocktail dip.

Pull off petals and use as scoops in the dip.

Big onions are best for this. But you can also use spanish onions. Calorific and greasy.

Makes 4

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