Onion Bhajis

September 21, 2014 by veganfoodnerd 4 Comments

I’ve been lucky to live in England and get to enjoy some really fabulous Indian food. Hamilton has it’s fair share of decent options though, and living on the East side means we get to feast on the Himalya whenever the craving strikes. The Himalya is all veg Indian fare and they have a great vegan thali special.

I have always loved the variety of veggie options and pakoras and onion bhajis are a favourite. My parents gave us a bag of onions they picked up from a farm so we thought we’d make some bhajis to go with a lentil curry (recipe for the curry coming soon).

Notes:

• I wanted to try baking these to see if they would turn out, but we weren’t sure. If you try baking them let me know if it works out for you!
• You can alter the spice mixture if you like, but these were really flavourful with just a little bit of heat. Increase the chillies or add some chilli powder to make them spicier.
• We didn’t try to form the bhajis at all, so they are kinda rustic looking. Cut your onion slices in half to help with shaping into more of a ball and less spider shapes will result.

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Ingredients

1/2 large white onion, finely sliced
1/2 large red onion, finely sliced
2 cloves of garlic, mashed
1 thumb of ginger, finely chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp whole cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1 cup of chickpea flour + 1-2 tbsp
6-8 tbsp water
1 tbsp vegetable oil, plus oil for frying
salt

1) Add sliced onions to a bowl and separate each slice. Add spices, garlic and ginger and mix.

2) Add 1 cup of the chickpea flour, 1 tbsp of oil and 6 tbsp of water and mix. You may want to add up to 2 more tbsp of chickpea flour and water to make a batter to coat the onions that isn’t too thick. Some onions may release more liquid than others as well which will create a thinner batter.

3) Heat about 1/2 inch to 1 inch of vegetable oil in a frying pan or cast iron pan. You want it hot but not so hot that your bhajis will get dark brown too quickly without cooking the onions. Drop a bit of batter in the oil and if it starts to sputter it’s ready.

4) Drop a spoonful of the onion mixture into the pan without crowding and fry until browned on both sides. At least 2-3 minutes per side worked for us.

5) Place cooked bhajis on a paper towel lined plate to absorb the excess oil. Sprinkle with a little bit of sea salt. You can leave them in an oven at 250 F to keep them warm. Serve hot!

Makes 12 bhajis