These are the tastiest little condiments! I promised several people I would share this with you.

I love those caramelized onions found on top of Asian foods, crispy and flavorful. Several years ago I spent one week in a raw food institute, and I've come away with some good habits. This healthy version of dehydrating onion slices in a powdered seasoning is now a regular activity in my kitchen, and each fall I purchase the fresh vegetables and preserve them. For those of you who wish to go the extra mile in serving raw foods, (that is using temperatures under 115ºF with food), these are worth the effort. If you are short on time, you might use a purchased seasoning to coat the raw onion rings, and then dehydrate them. I use an Excalibur 9 tray food dehydrator, but there are many cheaper models on the market; even using your oven set to the lowest temperature works.

In the fall when there is a surplus of tomatoes, red peppers, and onions, I store several jars of these dried, just to make this seasoning whenever I wish. All vegetables need to be thinly sliced and dehydrated at 105ºF for one to two days until no moisture remains. They are quite leathery. Store these out of the light in glass sealed jars and grind a small amount at a time into a powder. A coffee grinder, vita mix, magic bullet, or blender will work. Mix equal amount of red pepper powder, tomato powder, and onion powder.

Place 1/8th to 1/4 inch thinly sliced onions, about 2 handfuls, in a zip lock bag, and sprinkle with about 2 tbsp. of the above seasoning. Shake well until all onion rings are coated. Spread the onion rings in a single layer on the dehydrator trays and dry at 105ºF for about 2 days.

Store these crispy onion rings on the counter in a pretty sealed glass jar, and use daily to garnish salads, raw veggie plates, soups, or casseroles.

These onion rings are loaded with health giving properties, as well as being soooo tasty!
 

Enjoy!

Paulette Millis