Topic: Onion Bhaji fried in Butter ?

[emin-j]

I was browsing through a couple of local Indian T/A menu's last night and one in particular serves the most tasty Onion Bhaji's I have had anywhere,they have a flavour which I cant describe and I cannot get anywhere near when making my own Bhaji's.
I have spoken with the owner but he doesn't give much away but did give me a tip that if your home cooked Bhaji's aren't cooked through to the middle just Microwave them for a few minutes, I would then guess pop them back in the fryer for a quick last fry to crisp them up.
But when reading their Menu I noticed it read " Slices of Onion with Spices crushed into balls and deep fried in Butter " - Butter ! I have never heard of Bhaji's being deep fried in Butter  but also have never tasted Bhaji's so good.
Anyone heard of this cooking method ?

[Peripatetic Phil]

But when reading their Menu I noticed it read " Slices of Onion with Spices crushed into balls and deep fried in Butter " - Butter ! I have never heard of Bhaji's being deep fried in Butter  but also have never tasted Bhaji's so good.
Anyone heard of this cooking method ?

"a" and "u" are almost interchangeable in many languages; I suspect this is a misprint for "in batter", which is one way of describing the role the gram-flour mixture plays in the recipe.

** Phil.

[Malc.]

If it were butter it would most likely be ghee and that would be very noticeable. I did read that a benefit of using Ghee is that it has a high flash point, so deep frying could be acheived with it. But surely this it would be too espensive to use?

I'd go along with Phil and suggest that it is a smelling pistake spelling mistake. 

[976bar]

If it were butter it would most likely be ghee and that would be very noticeable. I did read that a benefit of using Ghee is that it has a high flash point, so deep frying could be acheived with it. But surely this it would be too espensive to use?

I'd go along with Phil and suggest that it is a smelling pistake spelling mistake. 

I've never heard of any Indian dish being deep fried in butter and even less so in Batter, how do you deep fry in batter?

I'm thinking this is a translation problem and they are possibly deep fried in some kind of flavoured oil.... but interesting to think they could be cooked in the microwave? Maybe a way forward.....

[Stephen Lindsay]

We went for a curry last night we had poppadoms with onion chatney for a starter.

[Peripatetic Phil]

I've never heard of any Indian dish being deep fried in butter and even less so in Batter, how do you deep fry in batter?

The fish element of fish and chips is "deep-fried in batter", for some easily-discerned meaning of "in", is it not ?! (As are Mars Bars, in some more northerly parts of our glorious Empire ...).
** Phil.

[emin-j]

But when reading their Menu I noticed it read " Slices of Onion with Spices crushed into balls and deep fried in Butter " - Butter ! I have never heard of Bhaji's being deep fried in Butter  but also have never tasted Bhaji's so good.
Anyone heard of this cooking method ?

"a" and "u" are almost interchangeable in many languages; I suspect this is a misprint for "in batter", which is one way of describing the role the gram-flour mixture plays in the recipe.

** Phil.

Possible I suppose but the owner of this Restaurant / TA speaks better English than I do 

I am tempted to add some Butter Ghee to the Oil in my deep fat fryer just to see if it gives a hint of the flavour of their Bhaji's.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Possible I suppose but the owner of this Restaurant / TA speaks better English than I do 

OK, but he may not proof-read his menus as thoroughly as he might ...  Anyhow, if you do a Google search for the three words "Onion", "Bhaji" and "Batter", you will get almost 30 000 hits, most of which describe the gram-flour mixture as being a batter.

** Phil.

[chriswg]

I agree, it is almost certainly a misprint. The cost alone of deep frying in butter would be restrictive, couple that with the low flashpoint (around 170C) and you have a definite no go. Ghee or a ghee / oil mix would be possible but Im not sure the taste would be that nice. Veg ghee is possible though. I might give that a go one day. Also, I'll try the microwave trick, I bet that goes on a lot, especially with a soggy batter mix.

[Malc.]

I am tempted to add some Butter Ghee to the Oil in my deep fat fryer just to see if it gives a hint of the flavour of their Bhaji's.

I would advise you to try shallow frying a small portion of flat bhaji in ghee, rather then add ghee to your deep fat fryer. Just a thought.

Soggy centres are the result off too much batter to onion and/or too wet a batter. I have tried microwaving bhaji in the past to reheat, but you loose the crispness in the batter, though if your about to plate up, it's probably the only solution, unless you can halve them and fry for a little longer.