Onion bhaji – Y.A. building block…
Ok, to balance the very healthy Crayfish salad, we really need something fatty and crispy and rich. You could use these onion “fritters” as large-ish croutons in salads or as little side dishes by themselves. Remember that the more rustic you make them, the more artsy they’ll make your salad look.
This recipe was inspired by the BBC cookery show Saturday Kitchen, but alas the online BBC recipe is not all that accurate. Furthermore, since we’re all pressed for time, the recipe needs a couple of shortcuts. The basic idea remains the same whichever variant you choose, though: raw onion, some greens, spices and chick pea batter.
I opted for an oriental variant of the original recipe. So instead of white ones I picked two red onions and sliced them quite finely into half rings. Then I ditched the spinach and went for a handful of fresh coriander. Word of warning: coriander has a peculiar soapy taste — don’t overdo it or it will overpower everything. Chop it quite finely.
Of course I couldn’t be bothered to roast my spices and ground them using a pestle and mortar. I’m sure like that it would taste even better, but instead I consulted my collection of readily-ground spice containers and added powdered laos, turmeric, coriander seeds, cayenne and some salt. A teaspoon each… mix well. You could deseed and finely chop in a little chili pepper as well, but I left that out. Keep in mind that it will not be cooked through, so some people will feel set on fire by the chili.
Making the batter is really simple. Sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of chick pea flour or gram flour over the other ingredients. Then add a splash of cold water and mix. You only need enough batter to glue the ingredients together, but you can add as much as you like. A bit more batter will make the ball meatier and leave the vegetable ingredients a bit more moist and tender. Less batter will add to the rustic crisp that looks so great on a plate. It depends on what you want to achieve of course.
Heat a deep pan half-filled with sunflower or groundnut oil to about 170 degrees Celsius. Better yet: use an electric deep fat fryer. Temperature setting slightly below what you’d use for chips. Take golfball-sized scoops of the onion/batter mixture, give them a little squeeze so they won’t fall apart, and gently lower them into the hot fat or oil. They’ll only take a couple of minutes to cook through. Carefully lift them out as soon as they’re golden brown and use kitchen paper to soak up the excess oil. Let them cool a bit if you’re using them to embellish a salad, or else the heat will wilt the leaves.
PS: bhajis are just begging to be experimented with. As I said, the onion base could be made with any type of onion. One could even use another type of vegetable that can be cut into thin strips and eaten half-cooked. The complementary greens – again – can be replaced with anything you like. Be it spinach, coriander, watercress, basil, sage or even nettles (!). The same goes for the spices. Just pick the right combo to match your salad or main course: classic, oriental, italian, fusion, cajun, the possibilities are endless.
(1 votes, average: 3 out of 5)
Loading …
