Onion Bhajji Recipe | Onion Fritters Recipe | How to Make Onion Bhajji | Indian Street Food Recipes

Onion Bhajji/ Onion Fritters #Recipe

Onion Bhajjis are Indian savoury onion fritters; they a crowd pleaser. It is one of the popular street foods in India. I love to have them hot with a cup of tea.

I had made them to take it to my work place and every body enjoyed it a lot. Few of them even remarked that they were really moist and flavourful unlike the ones you get in shops, which tend to be very dry when cold. The secret to it is adding a pinch of baking soda to the batter, it gives the inside of the bhajji a soft texture. I also add a couple of spoons of rice flour in the batter which gives a crispy crunch outside.

Without much ado, let's check out the Onion Bhajji recipe

Onion Bhajji Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup chickpea flour, shifted.
1 cup sliced onions (About 2 medium onions)
3 tbsp rice flour
1 green chili, de seeded and chopped
11/4 tsp salt
1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
A handful of chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp ajwain/carom seeds
2 tsp crushed kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp baking soda.

Process:

1. Peel the onion and cut it into four halves. Slice them thinly. Put the sliced onions in a large bowl and toss with the salt. Set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Add the chickpea flour, rice flour, chile powder, cumin, turmeric, ajwain, coriander leaves, baking soda,kasoori methi, green chilli and stir well. Add a couple of tablespoon of water to form a thick batter. Do not add water add water all at once, add spoon by spoon and stir with a spatula to check the consistency.
3. Heat 500 ml oil in a frying pan. When bubbles appear at the bottom of the pan lower it to medium. Drop tablespoon of batter into the hot oil. Fry 5-6 bhaajis at a time. If the pan is too crowded they will not cook evenly. Fry them till they are golden in colour. Stir it occasionally so that they are fried evenly.
4. Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain them on paper towel. Serve hot with coriander chutney or tamarind chutney. It can also be served with ketchup, pairs best with a cup of hot tea or coffee.

Notes:

1. Shifting chickpea flour helps in avoiding lump.
2. Make sure baking soda also has no lumps. Once the batter is made, don't let it sit for too long. Start preparing the bhajis in 5-7 minutes.
3. It is best to drop the batter in the oil using your finger. It can be a bit messy but helps in getting uniform shapes which in turn helps in uniform frying.
4. You can make them in advance and heat them in the microwave before serving.

Have a nice weekend. Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Nimki/ Namakpaare Recipe | Papdi Recipe | How to Make Nimki and Papdi using the same dough

Nimki/ Namakpaare Recipe | Papdi Recipe

Nimki or Namak Paare are diamond shaped savoury fried crackers. They go very well with tea. Using the same dough that is used to make nimki, I also make papdi, the round crackers that are quite used in Indian Chaats. In this post, I am showing you how to make nimki as well as papdi.

I have lots of memories attached to these Nimki. My mom makes the best Nimki in our home. I remember her making them in big batches during the festive season and we, kids used to poke around the kitchen to grab a few to munch on.

Even though I make them now myself, I still have not got the shapes perfect. Not that it matters when it comes to taste, but evenly shaped nimki looks way better.



Papdis are essentially same as nimki, they just differ in shape. I use the same dough to make both of these. The best papdi are those which are crunchy and yet breaks easily. Nimki are more crunchy, their shape helps in their texture. Papdis are the most essential elements of the most popular Indian snacks like Papdi Chaat and Sev Puri. Today, I am sharing how I make 'Nimki' and 'Papdi' with the same dough.

This recipe makes about 50 Papdis.

How to Make Nimki/Papdi/Namakpaare

Ingredients:

1 cup maida or all purpose flour
1/4 cup semolina
2 tablespoons oil
½ teaspoon salt
½ tsp black onion seeds.
Water to form a firm dough

Oil for brushing the dough and for frying

Process:

1. Mix maida or all purpose flour, semolina, salt and black onion seeds. Add the oil and use lukewarm water to make a firm dough. Keep it aside for 15-20 minutes before working on it.

2. Divide the dough in about 50 equal parts and roll them individually into 2 1/2 inch even rounds. Prick with a fork in about 4 to 5 place.

3. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. The frying pan should have at least 1 1/2 inch of oil. Fry the papdi on medium to medium-high heat until both sides are light golden-brown in colour.

4. Transfer them to a paper towel so that excess oil is soaked out. Let it cool completely before storing. They can be stored in airtight container for 1 month.



Nimki is same as papdi but different in shape. To make them make the dough as made for papdi and follow the instructions below.

1. Divide the dough into five equal parts and shape them into smooth balls.

2. Roll one dough ball at a time into thin chapati like discs. Using a knife or a pizza cutter cut thin strips of the dough and cut the strips diagonally to get diamond shaped pieces.

3. Fry them in medium hot oil till they are golden brown in colour. Do the same with rest of the dough balls. Keep the rest covered when you are rolling one.

4. Cool them completely before storing.

Here is a link to video of making nimki to help you understand the process of making them, even though the recipes are not same.

They are great to munch with afternoon tea.



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Wordless Wednesday ~ Spring is here!

 Linking to Wordless Wednesday

Random Pictures # 2 ~ Dublin ~ For Saturday Snapshot

                                                        Quays Bar and Restaurant, Temple Bar, Dublin

I wanted to do this post last week for Saturday Snapshot as St. Patrick's day was an ideal day to post some more pictures from this country. How ever, the idea didn't materialize. So, here I am this week with some random pictures from Dublin, Ireland for Saturday Snapshot. 

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. It’s easy to participate – just post a picture that was taken by you, a friend, or a family member and add your link on Alyce’s site.

 Temple Bar, Dublin

 Half Penny Bridge over river Liffey, Dublin

Bulter's Chocolate Cafe at Grafton Street, Dublin.

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Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer

I clearly have no idea how to begin this post and I have been staring at the screen for past few minutes for inspiration. That doesn't seem to be working and I am taking the easy way out.

In a line I can say that Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer is one of the riveting book that I have ever read. Archer has a gift for crafting stories with such intricate and complex plot, spanning over years that keeps the reader glued to it till they have turned the last page. He is a genius master story teller without a doubt.

In Kane and Abel, Archer tells your the story of two men, William Kane and Abel Rosnovski. The former is born with a silver spoon and the later is a penniless Polish immigrant. Born on the same date, in opposite sides of the world, they have only one thing in common - ambition and  when fate brings them together at crossroads of life, there is friction of enormous proportion that will do good to none of them.


The story takes the reader through the life of both men, right from the moment they were born and to the point they breathed their last, alternately, and as a reader you will feel torn between the two protagonists. The way the author has intricately woven important historical incidents and happenings in the story, reiterates the fact that only a genius can do it. The unrest in Poland and rest of Europe, the barbarity of the Hitler regime, the World War II, the Great Depression and the rise of America are a constant backdrop in the history and still not for a moment, you will feel subdued. There are so many characters, sub plots and still the story holds together as one.  

Over 60 years and three generations, through war, marriage, fortune, and disaster, Kane and Abel with unconsummated hatred for each other, battle for the success and triumph that only one man can have. It all culminates in to a spell binding saga of ambition, hatred, success, failures and love. Even though you might feel pulled toward one character or the other, the author always have justified the way they act or do things. The end comes as a masterful surprise, which you can expect from a Jeffrey Archer book, but can never guess.


Other than the two main characters, the other ones that stood out for me were Kane's wife - Kate and Florentyna, Abel's daughter. Kate is an epitome of understanding and I loved the way she stood by her husband through thick and thin. Florentyna comes to me as a person who is strong and dares to dream and follow her heart. And it comes as a no surprise to me that she is the main protagonist of the next book of the Kane and Abel series, The Prodigal Daughter (which I have already laid my hands on and can't wait to read).


In a nutshell, it was fantastic read, full of twists and turns that will keep you on the edge, great historical backdrop, well sketched characters, ingenious plot and a jolting ending. It has all elements of an Archer book and if you love his work, you can't miss it. I only wonder why it took me so long to put my hands on it. Kane and Abel was first published in 1979. 

Highly recommended

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