I think I started making onion bhajis about a year ago (maybe it was 2 … time flies when you’re having fun). I’ve made some good ones, I’ve made some great ones. For me, the first key ingredient is gram flour. You can pick some up in one of the Asian food stores. I buy mine generally in Indochine in Bouffay. You can make the bhajis with normal flour they just, however, lack that subtle chickpea flavour that you get from the gram flour.
For your ingredients, you’ll normally want
- 100g Gram Flour
- 2 Red Onions (Tonight I used 3 fresh white onions that gave a way more subtle and fresh taste)
- 5g Baking Soda (Levure Chimique half a pack)
- Spices. Tonight I’m using a Tandoori curry powder mix. (You could also use Tumeric and Chilli powder)
- Fresh Corriander
- 1/3rd of a Carrot grated
- 100ml water
- Salt
Add all your ingredients into a mixing bowl. Chop your onion into rings and break them apart with your hands. You probably wouldn’t add carrots to normal onion bhajis but I’d some I needed to use up and it worked well. Possibly making them a bit more likeĀ pakora?
Add the water bit by bit. You might want to add some more flour or some more water, depending on how sticky your mix is. You want the mix to hold together.
Heat a good amount of vegetable oil in a frying pan. I don’t have a deep fat fryer. I do have a pan however I use for this. With a dessert spoon, spoon in the mix and move them around so they don’t stick together.
You’ll want to turn them once or twice. About 4 – 5 minutes in total. It’ll depend on how thick you make them. Try a bit to see if it’s cooked. No meat in there so it’s safe š
Pat them dry on some kitchen paper.
Serve on the side?, as a starter?, for a picnic / apƩro. They go down great at least amongst my friends.
I made a nice Dhal and served with rice and poppadoms with some freshly chopped coriander.
