Spring onion and shallot bhajis

We eat curries a lot – usually at least once a week and my children have loved curries from quite small. My husband is great at cooking these from scratch and my contribution is usually a couple of side dishes, one of which is always these bhajis. The base recipe came from a friend (her family recipe) and I’ve just, over time, come to use my own ratio of spices and switch it from a simple onion recipe to incorporating spring onions and shallots.

Notes

Makes about 10-12 bhajis

Equipment

• Smallish, high sided saucepan for deep fat frying or a deep fat fryer
• Bowl

Ingredients

• Gram flour – 80g
• Rice flour – 40g
• Spring onions – about 6
  
• Shallots – about 6
  
• Lemon juice – 1 dessert spoon
• Melted butter (or ghee if you have this) – 25g
• Bicarbonate of soda – 1 teaspoon
• Garam masala – 2 teaspoons
• Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
• Fresh chopped chilli or chilli flakes – 1 teaspoon
• Turmeric – 1/2 teaspoon
• Garlic – 1 clove, crushed
• Salt – 1/2 teaspoon
• optional: fresh coriander finely chopped – about a tablespoon-full’s worth
• Water – enough to bind
• Rapeseed oil (or your choice of oil) for deep-fat frying

Method

1. Cut the spring onions and shallots into very fine slices, then cut these into about 1 – 2 cm shards
2. Put both flours, the bicarb and the spices and salt into a large bowl
3. Mix the onions and shallots into the dry mix and ensure it is covered
4. Add the lemon juice, the butter (or ghee)  and one or two tablespoons of water to bring it together – it will be quite a sticky batter but you do not want it at all runny
5. Leave it to rest while you warm up the oil over a medium heat
6. Test the temperature of the oil by dropping in a tiny bit of the mix. It should start to go brown within about 20 – 30 seconds
7. Take a dessert spoon size blob of the mix and gently and carefully drop it into the oil – repeat with a couple more (leave enough space in the oil for the bhajis to move about a bit)
8. Turn the bhajis while they cook to ensure they are browned all over
9. Cook for about three minutes each, and take them out when they are a nice medium brown all over
10. You will need to fry these in batches to do them all
11. Dry them on kitchen paper to catch the excess oil