Onion Bhaji revisited

Happy New Year! Hope your holidays were lovely. We had Christmas Eve with my cousin’s family in their new home. It’s so exciting to have a new home and be able to decorate and start from scratch. The dinner was fabulous and it was a lot of fun opening presents with them.

Just before Christmas, we had another progressive dinner with our neighbours. This time, the theme was Indian and we were charged with the hors d’œuvres and appetizers. I (obviously), made onion bhaji to start and then we had a cup of Mulligatawny soup. These dinners always have too much food so I kept it small. These bhajis turned out so good, I decided I wanted to keep the recipe for the future. I served them with store-bought Date and Tamarind Chutney.

Onion Bhaji Revisited

Makes about 20 bhajis, depending on size. For the original recipe, please click here.

Ingredients:

• 2 sweet onions, finely sliced

• 100 g gram flour (chickpea flour)

• 5 g baking powder

• 4 g Aleppo chilli flakes

• 4 g turmeric

• 100 mL water
• 1 L vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

1. Soak the sliced onions in cold water while you make the batter.
2. Preheat the oil to 350° F.
3. Add the gram flour, baking powder, Aleppo flakes and turmeric to a large bowl and whisk to combine. Slowly add 90 mL of the water to form a batter and mix well. Strain the onions and add them to the batter, adding about 10 mL of water, if necessary. Mix to coat the onions.
4. When the oil is 350° F, scoop a generous tablespoon of the bhaji mixture into the hot oil and fry until golden and the internal temperature is 200° F. Remove the bhaji from the oil onto a paper-lined tray and allow to drain the oil. Continue until you’ve fried all of the bhaji batter.
5. To serve, reheat the bhaji on a sheetpan in a 275° F oven for 12 minutes or until the internal temperature is 125° F.

These were gobbled up in nothing flat. I froze an additional batch I made and they are still fabulous reheated!