Onion Bhaji’s
In most Indian restaurants I’ve been to the onion bhaji’s are not as good as these ;)
Serves as a starter for: 4–6
Ingredients:
125g chickpea flour (aka gram flour), sifted
1 tsp baking powder, sifted
2 tsp salt
3 tsp toasted cumin, ground
1 tsp toasted fennel, ground
2 thumbs of fresh ginger
A good pinch of Asafoetida
1 green chili, finely chopped (or whatever chili you have)
2 garlic cloves
1 index finger width of fresh turmeric (or 1 tsp powder)
Quite some black pepper
125ml cold water
3 red onions (or normal onions)
+/- 500ml vegetable oil (sesame or groundnut) for frying
Method:
Finely chop one onion and thinly slice the other two. Chop up the ginger and chili while you’re at it.
Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and add the salt (you never want to forget salt in baking, so do it at the beginning rather than with the spices). Add about 125ml of cold water, don’t add all at once! Mix it with a whisk until it is a thick batter.
In a dry pan toast the cumin and fennel seeds on low to medium heat for about 2 minutes, until they start to smell aromatic. Grind them up with mortar and pestle or a clean coffee bean grinder.
Add the spices, chopped chili, ginger and press the garlic into the batter. Stir through, then add the chopped and sliced onions and stir until everthing is mixed nicely.
Heat about 5cm of oil in a wok or deep pan. Add a tiny bit of batter, if it rises to the surface surrounded by bubbles and starts to brown, then the oil is hot enough. Meanwhile get a strainer and put in some kitchen towels for when the tasty goodness is done.
Using one tablespoon to scoop a big scoop of batter and another to make it into a ball-like form add too or three scoops of batter to the oil. Fry the bad boiis for a few minutes, until they’ve coloured nicely. Scoop ’em out and put them in the strainer with kitchen towels. Keep that going until you’re all out of batter and enjoyyy!!
