I dip, you dip, we dip.

This recipe is sort of useless but fun to make. Useless because the onion dip seasoning package and sour cream dip I grew up eating is impossible to beat. Sadly because of scientists and MSG there is no way I can make something taste that good, but what we can do is make a dip out of as many onions as we can, with varying levels of texture, flavor, and cooked-ness. You’re caramelizing all the main onions slowly with time and care. You’re shallow frying shallots until brown and crispy, making super flavorful oil for something else in the future, maybe spooned over steamed veggies, or whipped with egg yolks for a sharp aioli. Finally, bright and refined raw chives garnish the top, of course. For dipping, I recommend a classic plain Ruffle, salt and pepper Kettle Chip, or a plain Rusty’s Chip, if you can find one.

Equipment

Large saute pan

Your smallest pot

Ingredients

16oz  labneh or greek yogurt

8 oz sour cream

1 red onion

1 yellow onion

1 white onion or sweet maui onion

5 green onions

1 shallot, sliced, and diced

1 bunch of chives (around 10 long ones)

1 tsp sea salt (may need more after, to taste)

8 cracks of Fresh Black Pepper

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil (caramelizing onions)

2 tbsp olive oil (slow frying shallots)

3 cloves of garlic

Pinch of red chili flake

Directions

1. Finely dice yellow, red, and white onion
2. Finely chop garlic
3. In a large skillet or saute pan on medium heat, add 3 tbsp olive oil, chopped onions, garlic, chili flake, salt, pepper.
4. Cook onions down for 30-45 minutes, stirring often, until rich and golden brown, reduced a lot, and caramelized.
5. While that cooks down, heat 2 tbsp olive oil on low-medium heat, and slowly fry your thinly sliced shallot, not diced, but little strips. Stir frequently and watch the temperature, they can burn easily. When golden brown and crispy looking, strain through fine mesh sieve and reserve that olive oil, it’s packed with flavor.
6. If your caramelized onions are looking a little dry and sad, drop some of that shallot oil in there to keep everything happy.
7. After 30-45 minutes, and onion mixture is looking a rich brown color, add diced green onion and 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar, cook down for 5 more minutes, stirring a few times, turn off heat.
8. In a large mixing bowl, add labneh or greek yogurt, sour cream, caramelized onions, crispy fried shallots, stir thoroughly to combine and chill, covered, for an hour.
9. After an hour, taste for salt level (with, and without a chip) add more salt if necessary, ask a friend maybe.
10. When you’re ready to plate, carefully spoon into your serving bowl, cover the entire top with FINELY diced chives before serving.