Quote from: RubyDoo on May 08, 2013, 04:52 PM

Quote from: Secret Santa on May 08, 2013, 02:58 PM
They do undeniably look good but, to me, they also look wrong. They have that 'cakey' texture to the batter which you don't get on the best onion bhajis.

That will be the gram flour and a little heavy handed with the squeezing.    Look pretty edible to me though all the same.

Quote from: Axe on May 10, 2013, 09:41 AM

Perhaps you could convince them to allow you one of those mini fryers that could be tucked away neatly.

The cakeyness can be due to several things. Making small finger finger food sized portions is certainly of of them as you need a fair bit of batter to hold them together.

Overall though, I found the most important thing to get right was the ratio of onion to batter and the batter's consistency. You need a very thick and sticky batter hardly what I would call a batter, more like a paste. Then you need a good deal of onion but not too much that you can't form a ball.

Wetting your hands before forming the bhaji is also key. This allows you to form the bhaji uniformly and to stop your hands becoming caked in the so called batter. The water from your hands will mix with the batter on the outside to form a wetter solution whilst the centre remains still quite dry.

It's probably the last method you might think of to make a haji, but it is the only way to reach bhaji nirvana

Quote from: chriswg on May 23, 2013, 04:59 PM
Hey guys, nice to see this thread still going strong! I wish I could edit the OP as the Lemon Dressing shouldn't be in there (it causes the batter to break up) and I wouldn't add any salt if marinading the onions overnight. In fact I'd probably just add the aniseeds for overnight so the onions take on the flavour and soften a little but not too much. My guess from the last set of pics was that all the dry ingredients went in all night meaning a lot of water came out of the onions and made them very soft. This might explain why the batter looked cakey and a bit too dense.

Making flat ones seems like it should be easier but I find them harder. I think the trick is to cook them round for 10 - 12 minutes at 130 - 140 then squash them flat inside a metal chefs ring. This means they will spread out and flatten but shouldn't break apart. I used to prefer them flat but I probably prefer round ones now if they are cooked through.