"http://www.youtube.com/v/bL18GiYQv3M&hl=en&fs=1&"

They went through it on an episode of the F-Word. Giles ate some raw. If you can find the video it should have some answers.

There was a video online a while ago showing general scenes from an Indian kitchen one of which was a chef putting onion bhajis in the fryer. I seem to remember it was quite a runny mix but I can't for the life of me find it again.

I think the spongeyness comes from the batter being too thick rather than the baking powder. Next time you make a batch try starting off with the batter as runny as possible so it still sticks to the onion and potato. As long as they stay together in the pan they will be good.

I've not tried using plain flour too but I'll put it on the long list of things to try!

Hi Emin

I deep fry mine in a saucepan, once the oil is cool I pour it back into the bottle for next time.

If you were following the same recipe I was, the chance are you were cooking at too high a temperature - 180 degrees according to the recipe. For me this is much too high and by the time the bhajis look right, they aren't cooked through. I do mine at around 140 - 150 degrees at which they take around 7 - 8 minutes to go a golden brown.

You also need to make sure the batter is reasonably thin to help avoid some mushiness. I thought my initial batter was too thin as when I cooked my first 2 bhajis the edges broke off and needed to be fished out. I added more gram flour to thicken it up, but when they were all done the first 2 were by far the nicest.

Also, if the recipe didn't mention it, always chuck in a tsp or 2 of baking powder a few minutes before cooking. This helps lighten everything.

I hope this helps.

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.

I normally order these from here if I am making a big order. If not, they sell them in an Indian store in Farnborough.

http://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/Indian-Food-Rajah-Madras-Plain-Poppadums.html

You will probably need to email them to ask about international shipping. Their T's and C's imply they will with orders being delivered within 7 days but when you try and place an order the drop down box only has EU countries.

I really wouldn't waste your time trying to make them. I'm pretty certain no BIR's make their own poppadums as they are so cheap to buy in raw. I always buy mine like this and fry them when needed. they cook in about 6 seconds and taste identical to the ones in restaurants. Sometimes they are even better as they are so fresh.

My advice would be to find a website that will post them worldwide and buy in ?20's worth. You might pay ?10 for shipping but you will have more than you know what to do with. Plus they last for ages so you could probably buy a years supply in one go.

Quote from: 976bar on September 16, 2009, 04:58 PM
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.

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?