Topic: What do we KNOW about BIR Onion Bhajis?

[JerryM]

were simply forming balls and dropping them in the fryer.

this is where i feel they have the edge somehow. i like panpots idea above - it may help to perhaps also soften the onion. i'm also thinking of cutting the onion up more as opposed to thinish slices.

i can't get the ball as tight as they do and so the open texture of the ball cooks more than u would like on the inside. the outside is the same as BIR when u cook at 160C and wait till they float.

[chriswg]

Hi Josh

Thanks for the comments and its very interesting to hear a BIR not precooking the bhajis.

Were you there long enough to roughly judge how long they were cooked for?

[chriswg]

...The Ashoka chef of not actually using water to create the batter but by leaving the dry ingredients for 4 or 5 hours the Gram flour seems to draw the liquid content from the vegetables particularly the onion.

I have some onions in spiced gram flour in the fridge. I'll cook them in 4 - 5 hours time and see how they taste. I'll also go a bit crazy with the spice mix for half of the mix as per Haldi's post to see if there is any discernible difference.

I'll also cook some in my 'used' Crisp and Dry oil, and some in fresh KTC Vegetable Oil that all the BIR's seem to favour.

[chriswg]

Okay so the onions had gone nice and soft over the 4 hours and were easy to form into balls or disks to cook. I'm still stuck with the same problem of the onions not really being cooked through. The texture is almost rubbery but that is probably down to the long cook time at a low heat.

Someone mentioned the turmeric burns very quickly, is that true of other spices like ground coriander and garam masala? For these ones I used 1 large onion with 1 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 2 tsps ground coriander, 1 tsp paprika, 2 tsps madras curry powder and 1/2 tsp chilli powder. Could adding too much spice be the reason they cook and go dark so quickly? Is this a classic case of less is more?

[976bar]

Okay so the onions had gone nice and soft over the 4 hours and were easy to form into balls or disks to cook. I'm still stuck with the same problem of the onions not really being cooked through. The texture is almost rubbery but that is probably down to the long cook time at a low heat.

Someone mentioned the turmeric burns very quickly, is that true of other spices like ground coriander and garam masala? For these ones I used 1 large onion with 1 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp cumin seeds, 2 tsps ground coriander, 1 tsp paprika, 2 tsps madras curry powder and 1/2 tsp chilli powder. Could adding too much spice be the reason they cook and go dark so quickly? Is this a classic case of less is more?

Hi Chris,

ALL powdered spices will burn very quickly if cooked on a too higher heat for too long.

I have made bhajis before as in the recipe I posted from my Indian cookery course. If you take a look at this, you need to either grate or shred the vegetables finely, so that they cook more quickly along with the spice and "batter" mixture.

Maybe, sticking them in a hot oven for a while prior to deep frying would be an answer if you made the bhajis larger than say 5cm diameter.

I don't think this is a science here, whether it be Indian cooking or anything else, if you make a ball out of something and want to cook it thoroughly, it needs time on a lower heat, otherwise the outer will be done and the inner raw or (rawish).....

Maybe try the other way round, cook them in the oil to crisp the outside, then finish off in a hot oven for the heat to penetrate deeper inside and cook thoroughly......

But either way, the vegetables or if only onions should be slightly crisp and not cooked all the way through for that wonderful crunch texture when biting into them....

I hope this helps..

[chriswg]

But either way, the vegetables or if only onions should be slightly crisp and not cooked all the way through for that wonderful crunch texture when biting into them....

I like the idea of using the oven as a workaround but this is definitely not what the BIR's do (as far as I am aware). I think frying then oven would be more likely to bring the best results.

I have to strongly disagree that they shouldn't be cooked all the way through. The best bhajis I have ever had have been crisp on the outside but melt in the mouth on the inside with no hint of undercooked onions, or even really much onion taste. Just a lovely soft fusion of fried flavours with a lovely light batter and a slightly greasy texture.

[chriswg]

I had a bit of a bhaji breakthrough last night. I had always worked on the basis that the thinker the batter the better, but really it seems the batter should be just thick enough to be able to hold the bhajis together. This seems to eliminate any cakiness from the finished results. I cooked them at around 140 degrees.

I also used a lot less spice than usual which meant they were able to cook a bit longer without browning too quickly.

The most important difference was slicing the onion and potato using the slicing side of the cheese grater. This gave super thin results that were almost transparent. The result of all these changes was well cooked bhajis, light golden brown in colour and not even a hint of raw onion in the taste. I think they could have used a bit more spicing which I'll work on next time. For me, they key was always going to be getting the cooking and texture right, the spices are now just about getting the right balance.

[emin-j]

chriswg , I made some Onion Bhajis last night and although they looked great fromt the out side the inside was ' mushy ' do you know what causes this.

[976bar]

chriswg , I made some Onion Bhajis last night and although they looked great fromt the out side the inside was ' mushy ' do you know what causes this.

Hi EminJ,

That will almost certainly be not long enough in the pan. Incidently, both you and ChrisW, do you pan fry these or deep fry them?

Regards

Bob

[emin-j]

chriswg , I made some Onion Bhajis last night and although they looked great fromt the out side the inside was ' mushy ' do you know what causes this.

Hi EminJ,

That will almost certainly be not long enough in the pan. Incidently, both you and ChrisW, do you pan fry these or deep fry them?

Regards

Bob

Hi 976bar ,

I deep fry mine in the deep fat fryer and usually cook until light golden brown as they continue to colour once out of the fryer but I have not yet succeeded to get anywhere near BIR