I'm in, great idea. Curry and football, does life get any better?

Hi Jerry,

Great post, I'm glad you had an enjoyable evening! I was also pleased to hear you risked the methi leaves and hing. I spoke to a very experienced indian head chef who said they put the hing in their recipe. Although raw it stinks a bit like rotten onions, I think in the bhaji it gives a nice oniony garlicy after-taste.

I'm surprised at your thoughts on the cooking method, mine have never taken up too much oil. I think there is a difference between cooking in a deep fat fryer and using a saucepan (maybe the amount of oxygen that they cook in?). I have seen videos of people cooking bhajis in DFF's at 180 degree for 6 minutes and them come out golden. If I did that in a saucepan they would be burned inside a minute (my thermometer may just be broken of course).

Looking at your results, I think maybe I have made some mistakes in my method as mine  don't look anything like yours came out. I'll be making some tomorrow (my wife doesnt like the house stinking of bhajis all weekend or I'd be making some right now) and I'll put up the pictures.

For v1.1 I'll include the option of grinding up the fennel seeds, making the chilli powder optional and removing the lemon juice from the recipe. I'll also make the method a little clearer with the addition of photos. I still stand by the fact they should be cooked at 140 degrees but I'll buy a new thermometer over the weekend to make sure the other one is correct.

If anyone has any other thoughts then please let me know.

Jerry, thanks again for your road test and detailed feedback. I'm sure if we all put our thoughts together we can come up with a definitive cr0 bhaji recipe!

I agree with Cory. I'm hoping this recipe will give a good solution to b). As for getting the balance of spices right, is there a correct answer? No 2 restaurants ever have the same tasting bhajis. Some have quite a spicy kick, some have a strong aniseed taste. I am now convinced that the oil is very important to the final result. Here is a picture of the oil I use, look how dark it has gone compared to fresh oil. That's only after about making 3 batches. With SS finding the results 'disappointing' the only difference must be with the oil used. I also cant stress enough how important it is to keep the temperature just right. I check it every few minutes with a sugar thermometer to make sure it isn't too high or too low. To get them cooked all the way through I believe they need to deep fry for at least 8 - 10 minutes in total after which they should still be golden brown rather than dark brown.

Quote from: Secret Santa on July 09, 2009, 10:29 PM
Hi chriswg.

Well I just tried these and...disappointed really. Unlike the others I didn't think that the spicing was too much from reading the recipe, so I made it exactly as stated. The flavour was, if anything, understated and certainly not anything like any bhaji I've had from a restaurant.

I have to say the spice mix is a little weird to me, having neither coriander or cumin in it and relying almost totally on garam masala. The problem is that garam masala covers a very wide range of spice blends. And the lemon juice...why?

BTW, I don't understand vague measures like 'cups' and 'large' (as in onions), proper weights would have been nice.

So it was a miss for me but I'd love some feedback from others to see if they agree or not.

Hi Secret Santa

Firstly, thank you for trying the recipe and leaving feedback. I'm sorry that you found them disappointing in flavour. What were your thoughts regarding the cooking method? Maybe they taste better the more you reuse the oil, mine are always packed with flavour.

Regarding your thoughts on the spices, there is a tablespoon of cumin seeds and a tablespoon of fresh coriander in the recipe, do you think it would be better suited to using ground cumin and coriander? The lemon juice I think gives a fresh taste and goes really well with onions. I always put a big squeeze of lemon juice over them before eating too.

The measurements are just how I make them. I have a set of measuring cups and I just fill one and pour it in. Next time I make them I will note how much a cup of gram flour weighs. The 2 onions equal approximately 500 grams (in total not each).

Did you notice the later post about including 1 Tsp of Turmeric, that makes a big difference to the flavour and the colour.

Any other thoughts or suggestions would be very welcome.

What do you mean 'busted'? I used to work with him and I emailed him today to tell him how good the site is. Admittedly it looks like a blatant plug, but apart from my wife and 2 kids, he is the only person that has tried them. He is coming over next weekend and we are going to attempt on of the Madras recipes. I cant wait!

If you look around the internet there are some amusing videos and stories of people eating them. One guy was ill for days with terrible stomach pains, but then he did eat a whole one raw.

Unless anyone has some real world experience with them, I'll probably start off with 1 chilli for about 10 portions of sauce. They are about 20 times hotter than hot green finger chillies so that would seem about right.

Thanks for the info, I guess we went a little crazy with it. I assumed it would be like butter so we put in lots. Maybe I'll give it another go next time but start small and work my way up.

I cooked a batch of these for rubberdinghy a couple of weeks ago before joining this forum. He was genuinely blown away, especially given our earlier attempts and little ghee accident!

A few months ago I was cooking a "Curry Secret" curry with some friends. We bought a tin of Ghee and decided to use it liberally. We fried onions for the base sauce in it, we brushed the bhajis, naan breads and poppadums with it, basically it went in everything. The result? The meal was DISGUSTING!!! No one could eat anything. After so much work I was gutted but everything tasted like cheese, especially the Tikka Masala for the ladies. Is this normal with ghee or did we just have an off batch? It was well in date and opened fresh having been delivered a couple of days previously. If you make your own ghee, does it have a strong odour?

Photos were a bit large - Sorry.