Fried Onion Mums Or Pom Poms

5 Yellow onions - medium to-small onions - OR2 Very large onions
4 c All-purpose flour
5 t Baking powder
2 T Paprika
1 t Garlic powder
2 t Greek seasonings
1 t Salt - or to taste-black and/or Cayenne-pepper - to taste
3 Eggs
1/2 c Milk
6 c -oil for deep frying

Cut off and discard the top half-inch of the onions. Peel them but donot cut off the root end. Place each onion, root end up, on a cuttingboard.

With a sharp, pointed knife, make vertical cuts all around the onionabout a quarter inch apart. Start the cut a quarter-inch from the rootfor small onions or a half-inch from the root for very large ones. Makesure the knife goes into the center of the onion. Place all the onionsin a large bowl of cold water, add ice cubes, cover and refrigerateseveral hours or overnight. The onions will open up like mums. Drainupside-down when ready to proceed. In a large bowl, mix togetherthoroughly the flour, baking powder and spices. In another bowl, beattogether the eggs and milk.

Dip the onions one by one into the egg mixture, opening the petalswith your fingers; let the excess drip off, and place in flour. Workthe flour mixture into the center gently with fingertips. Shake offexcess flour and repeat egg dip and flouring, shaking off the excessthoroughly.

Half-fill a deep fryer or large, deep, heavy pot with oil. Heat theoil to 360F or until a small piece of dry bread turnsdeep gold in 15 seconds. Fry the onions without crowding them -- oneat a time for large ones -- keeping them submerged with a spatula orby placing the frying basket on top of them. Plunge them in root endup and turn them over once. To serve at once, fry large onions forabout six or seven minutes, small ones for five minutes, or until deepgold. Drain upside-down on paper towels; then invert on a servingplate. Keep warm in a low oven while frying the others.

Remove the centers of large onions with a very sharp knife. Smallonions may be left whole or the center can be scooped out with a melonballcutter. If serving the next day, fry the onions until pale gold;do not fry completely. Let cool. When ready to serve, reheat the oil to380F and fry the onions just long enough to heat and brown, about 15seconds. Drain and serve. To get the same taste without making mums,simply cut onions vertically to make "petals" or crosswise and separateinto rings. This can be done ahead and the petals or rings kept in icewater. Egg, flour and fry as above.