These onion bhajis are the real thing!
Onion bhajis served with my homemade lime pickle
My Latest and Favourite Onion Bhaji Recipe is in my New Hardbound Cookbook!
My original British Indian restaurant (BIR) style onion bhaji recipe was one of the most popular on my site. As it also happens to be in my Indian takeaway ebook, I had to remove it. The thing was, I needed to replace it with something equally as good. Experimentation was the only way that was going to get done. That and asking a few chef friends for advice and recipes. lol.
So here you have my new BIR onion bhaji recipe. It is similar to my original though I toned down the salt some and added a few different spices. The panch poran – that’s Indian five spice powder – works really well here.
If you would like to try my original recipe, it is still available for download right here.
As with my original recipe, I recommend roasting your own spices. This is not necessary but the additional step makes a big difference in the flavour.
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- 3 white onions slightly larger than tennis balls
- Oil for deep frying
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 tablespoon garlic paste
- 3 green chillies - pounded to a paste
- 1 tablespoon panch poran*
- 1 pinch asafoetida
- 1 tablespoon self rising flour or rice flour
- 250ml (1 cup) gram flour
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves
- Cut the onions in half and then finely slice them. Set aside.
- Mix the salt, garlic paste, chilli paste, panch poran and the asafoetida.
- Sift the flours into a large bowl and add the salt mixture along with just enough water to make a slightly runny paste.
- Throw in the chopped coriander and onions and form into golf ball sized bhajis.
- Heat the oil over medium high heat. The oil is ready when a piece of bread sizzles and browns in about 25 seconds.
- Add the onion bhajie a couple at a time ensure that you don't over crowd the pan. I usually only cook about five at a time.
- Wait until the onion bhajis are nice and brown and then transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain any excess oil.
- If not serving immediately, place in a warm (not hot) oven.
These onion bhajis are great served with my mint raita recipe.
Fantastic Dan!! I am going to try this ….
… but not yet. I am going to treat myself soon to a blow out day of eating (whatever I want), but I am not ready for these just yet as it will blow the diet in one go.
Will post again when I do get around to cooking and eating!
MArk
Great Mark.
My diet is starting tomorrow.
Dan
I always start a new diet ‘tomorrow’ 🙂
These look great. As an Indian cook – I am impressed that you use all the authentic spices like asafoetida and ajwain for the bhajias. I use similar spices but never use egg as I am a vegetarian.
Thank you Mina.
You have inspired me to try my recipe without egg. Thanks for stopping by.
Dan
I have to admit I have never done curry but this makes me want to try. Looks really fantastic.
Thank you Kim.
I hope you get a chance to try the recipe. I really like it. Please let me know if you have any questions.
I WILL be trying this recipe, they look great.
We call it Pakoda but we don’t use egg in this mix but we use it another type of pakoda and have it with chai (Indian Tea) 🙂 BTW homemade lime pickle..very impressive 🙂
Thank you very much for stopping by Sanchita.
I would love to try your recipe. Is it like mine but without the egg? I am always looking for new recipes.
I’ve just been looking at your blog again. Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes.
Dan
Hi Dan
In your “method” you mention baking powder, but in the ingedients you don’t list it – how much to put in?
I’ll make it anyway, with my guess….! Sounds great!
Cheers, Rob
I made these last week and they were great. Perhaps a bit salty so I may rinse the onions before cooking them next time (although my guests said they were perfect!)
I’ve been experimenting with this recipe for years. Sometimes it is a bit salty. Other times it’s perfect. Try not to rinse the onions. Instead, just use a little more salt. The idea of the salt is to get as much moisture out of the onions as possible. Thanks.
Looks so delicious!
I’m hungry 😉
Thank you. I hope you get to try the recipe soon. I love it. 🙂
Wow, I’m salivating!!! Just back from hols and need to lose a couple of pounds…..but what the heck, I can start the plan again the day after trying this delicious sounding recipe out. 😉
Thanks Lesley. I hope you find it worth the calories! I love this recipe. 🙂
Hi Dan, Going to try these in next few days, my last efforts left alot to be desired, but recipe never said to soften onions. How much Baking powder do you put in? its not listed in your ingredients….
Hi Dan, will be trying these today as i have a curry party to go to toinght and i want to take these! It’s nice to find a recipe which uses the traditional gram flour. will pass on your recipe to my father who makes a fantastic sri lanken curry. Kind Regards, Charlotte Hounslow
Thank you very much Charlotte. Hope you enjoy the bhajis. That’s my favourite recipe for them.
Enjoy.
Dan
Well i never use sr flour,mango powder or egg in mine. In fact i have never heard of that before. I will certainly give them a go . Sounds interesting 🙂 and its nice to have a change. P.s. have you ever tried panch puran in your bhajis or pakora? If not , try one time and see what you think.
Hi ive just taken your tikka masala curry to make tonight. I am going to try to do your onion bahjees another time. What i would like to know please is how to make the mint sauce like they do in the restaurant to go with bahjees.
Thank you
Sharon
Dan,
The onion bhaji recipe as given in your book includes baking powder but fails to specify the quantity. Can you enlighten me please?
Sorry about that. About a teaspoon will do just fine. I’ll have to fix that.
Thanks
Dan
Hi Dan
You say your recipe takes 4 hours to prepare, how come it takes that long? As I see it, it should only take around 10 to 15 minutes to prepare. Do you have to let the “golf balls” to stand? I’m somewhat confused on the amount of time.
Cheers
b.t.w Great website
Make potato bhajias using the very same paste. The potato’s must be very thinly sliced. Place thinly sliced potato’s in the paste and fry 5 or 6 slices at a time.
This sounds lovely and really tasty. Thank you for sharing this.
Simon
Wow made these from recipe in your ebook they are the real deal. Thanks I now live in Portugal you gave me the taste I remember from the indian snack shops in the UK.
Really good to hear Jon. Thank you.
Dan
Hi Dan
I like your recipes and I am going to try your onion Bhajis. Wondering whether to add panch poran as whole or powdered.
Thanks
Rajam
Hi Rajam
I use the panch poran whole. It adds a lot to the texture. Thanks.
Dan
Hi Dan,
Just finished baking, and tasting of course, your recipe. My first Bhaji’s ever and I like them a lot. They’re very tastefull. Thank you very much for this recipe!
Kind regards,
Dory
Hi Dory
I’m really glad you liked the recipe. Thank you.
Dan
This is great. I followed slimming world style of making them but substituted their spices with yours. 100% better and still SW!
PS, hope you don’t mind!
Love it! Thanks Simon.
Dan
Hi Dan
Preparing to try this recipes in next couple of days. Managed to get the PP and Asafoetida but where I live I can’t get hold of fresh coriander. All I have is the powdered stuff. Would that be ok to use and could you recommend how much I should add? thanks
I am also wondering if I can use hot pepper paste which is locally available but is red rather than using fresh chillies?
Hi Kim
Coriander powder is made from the seeds of the coriander plant and tastes completely different to the leaves. That said, a teaspoon or so wouldn’t hurt. Just omit the coriander leaves and the bhajis will still be fine.
Thanks,
Dan
Dan, great to see you at Newcastle today. We really enjoyed your demo.
Looking forward to recreating some recipes over the coming weeks. Thankyou for being so inspiring and making it look really achievable.
Hi Tom
Thank you very much. It really means a lot to me. I hope you enjoy the book and look forward to seeing some pics if you post any. 🙂
Dan
Great recipe. I bought your new book this week and this is the first thing I tried. Had them last night with a cucumber and mint raita and it all worked out well. Looking forward to trying more.
Great to hear Tom. Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy cooking from my book. Much appreciated.
Dan