When four o clock hits and you feel hungry, a plate of hot onion bhajias is exactly what you need. This recipe is for a quick solo snack or a light bite for two. It uses basic cupboard ingredients and takes very little time. You can spend more time drinking your tea and less time cooking.
Late afternoon cravings are very real. A biscuit is never enough, but dinner is still hours away. This is the perfect time to make onion bhajias. They are incredibly simple, made just from sliced onions and gram flour, but they hit the spot completely.
This version is easy for anyone cooking at home. You do not need a huge pot of oil or exact measurements for the batter. The main goal is to get a thin and crispy coating so the sweet flavour of the onions comes through. If you slice the onions very thin, they cook fast and get lovely and brown on the outside.
For a home cook, this recipe is a lesson in patience and heat. It is about watching the oil carefully and waiting for that perfect golden brown hue. There is something deeply satisfying about dropping a messy clump of batter into a hot pan and watching it transform into a craggy, golden nest of flavour. It is the kind of cooking that feels grounding after a day spent staring at a computer screen.
These bhajias are best eaten while
Read MorePut the sliced onions in a bowl and sprinkle the salt over them. Mix them with your hands and leave them for five minutes. The onions will release their own water, which helps make the batter stick.
Add the ginger garlic paste, chopped green chilli, and fresh coriander. Mix everything up.
Put the gram flour, rice flour, turmeric, red chilli powder, and ajwain seeds into the same bowl. Mix it all thoroughly with your hands. The flour will cling to the wet onions to form a thick paste.
If the mix is completely dry and the flour falls to the bottom, add a few drops of water. Be very careful because too much water makes the bhajias absorb oil and become soft.
Heat oil in a Prestige non stick kadai or a deep frying pan. Test the oil by dropping a tiny piece of onion into it. If the onion bubbles and floats up straight away, the oil is ready.
Pick up small, messy clumps of the onion mix and gently drop them into the hot oil. Do not make them into neat balls, because the messy bits get the most crispy.
Fry them on a medium heat for about three to four minutes. Flip them over halfway through with a slotted spoon. A Prestige triply cookware pan is brilliant here because it keeps the heat steady and cooks them evenly.
Take them out when they turn a nice dark golden colour. Let them drain on a piece of kitchen paper. Eat them straight away while they are hot.
Gram flour gives the traditional taste and colour. Plain flour makes them taste more like pancakes, so it is best to stick to gram flour.
This happens when the oil is not hot enough before you start frying. The batter just drinks up the oil. Always test the heat first.
It gives an extra crunch that gram flour alone cannot do. If you do not have it, cornflour works too.
Yes, you can cook them in an air fryer at 180C for about 12 minutes, but they will not be as crunchy as the deep fried ones.
No, because the onions will keep releasing water and the batter will become too thin. It is best to mix and fry straight away.
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