Spring onion beignets that are perfect for dipping and dunking

This versatile vegetable creates a delicious starter to welcome in the longer days.

Spring has sprung, almost, so it’s time for the onions of the same name to start sprucing up your dishes. ‘Fresh spring onions, sweet and mellow, steal the show in this week’s recipes’, says Melanie Johnson, who recommends adding them to anything from blackened miso cod to ‘green-goddess’ orzo.

Her spring onion air-fryer beignets with easy herb mayo and sriracha pulls this delicious vegetable front and centre though, and is our favourite.

Recipe: Spring onion air-fryer beignets with easy herb mayo and sriracha

Ingredients

  • 75g butter
  • 225ml water
  • 1tspn sugar
  • 110g plain flour
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 spring onions
  • Olive oil for brushing

For the herby mayonnaise

  • 125ml mayonnaise
  • 1 spring onion (white part, reserve the green part for decoration)
  • A handful mixed fresh herbs (basil, parsley, mint, dill)
  • 1 clove garlic
  • ½ lemon, juice of
  • Sriracha and edible flowers to serve

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Method

Preheat your air fryer to 200˚C and set the timer for 15 minutes. If you don’t have an air fryer, deep fry the beignets in an inch of vegetable oil until golden.

Heat the butter, water and sugar in a saucepan. Once simmering and foaming, take off the heat and dump in all the flour in one hit. Beat furiously until it comes together and leaves the side of the pan to create a dough. Add the eggs, beat again until smooth and then mix in the chopped spring onions and season.

Use two tablespoons to shape the mixture into balls and place straight onto a tray that goes into your air fryer. Brush each one gently with olive oil and air fry for about 15 minutes or until golden and puffed up and airy like little pillows.

To make the herby mayonnaise, simply mix all the ingredients together. Serve the beignets with the herby mayonnaise and extra spring onions, and dot the plate with sriracha. I added edible flowers to make it pretty.