Onion Bhaji's 🧅

Onion bhaji's are one of our favourite fried Indian snacks. They're crispy, full of flavour and so easy to make! So whether you fancy a snack or are making some starters for a party these are perfect! They make a great change from onion rings as these are packed full of wonderful spices and ingredients and you will definitely want a plateful with some yummy cool cucumber raita 😉

To make these onion bhaji's you will need the ingredients below:

- Vegetable oil for deep frying (approximately 750ml)

- 2 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced

- 1 tbsp minced ginger

- 2 cloves crushed garlic

- 1 green chilli, finely chopped

- 1 tsp ground cumin 

-1 tsp ground coriander

- 1 tbsp dried coriander leaf

- 1 tsp chilli flakes

- 1 tsp ground fenugreek

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 130g gram flour (chickpea flour or besan flour)

- 1 tbsp cornflour

- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

- 135ml water

- Handful of chopped coriander for garnish (optional)

Raita dip to serve:

- 250g greek yogurt

- 1/4 cucumber- grated and excess water squeezed out 

- 3-4 finely chopped cherry tomatoes 

- 1 medium red inion finely chopped

- Pinch of salt

- Pinch of sugar

Mix altogether and serve immediately!

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a wok or large heavy-based pan over a medium heat. You need at least 3 inches of oil, but do ensure the pan or wok is less than half full of oil as you don’t want it to bubble over.

2. Place the sliced onion in a bowl. Add the ginger, the chopped chilli, cumin, ground coriander, dried coriander leaf, chilli flakes, ground fenugreek, salt, gram flour, cornflour and the bicarbonate of soda. Then mix together to coat the onion slices. 

3. Add in the 135ml of water, a splash at a time, until you have a thick batter that coats the onion (you may not need all of the water). Test the heat of the oil by dropping a little blob of the batter in the wok. It should sizzle and rise to the top so if it does this then the oil is ready!

4. Carefully add a rounded tablespoon of the onion bhaji mixture into the oil. We like to squeeze the mixture our hands to compact it, then put it back on the spoon to lower it in the oil – this will help give you a uniform shape that doesn’t fall apart in the oil.

5. Repeat, so you have 4 or 5 bhaji’s frying at the same time (don’t add more than this as the oil may boil over and also too much mixture will cool the oil – resulting in greasy bhajis that aren’t as crisp).

6. Fry for 3-4 minutes until the coating is dark golden brown.

7. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

8. Repeat, frying further bhajis, until the mixture is used up. Once all of the onion bhajis are cooked, place in a serving bowl and sprinkle with fresh coriander.

Serve with raita or sweet chilli sauce!

The ultimate Indian snack... who's going to give these a go? We guarantee that your love for these will go on-ion ion!!! 😋