Simple Oven Baked Onion Bhaji

I love onion bhajis, but I do begrudge spending so much on a shop-bought bhaji, that often seem to be very dry.  Onion bhajis come in a variety of shapes and sizes, some are chunky, some are thin, there are round onion bhajis, triangular bhajis and even big fat onion bhaji balls.  I prefer fairly thin, but large and round bhajis, it’s all personal taste!

I mostly stopped buying onion bhajis years ago as I found that so many were simply so dry I nearly choked on them!  Also, I felt that, for what you get, they’re poor value when bought as part of a takeaway meal. This baked onion bhaji recipe uses plain flour.

Having said that, deep frying just isn’t on the agenda.  I’ve never deep fried (since an accident with a chip pan when I was about 15) and have a fear of boiling fat on a hob.  Instead, I oven bake bhajis.

It was many years ago that I first tried a packet of Onion Bhaji Mix – that was superb.  It really had the exact and correct taste that I was after.

When making onion bhaji batter, it should be thick enough to stick to the sliced onion pieces, but still a little runny.  It’s a thick batter you’re after.  Onion bhajis use the same batter as a pakora, the different names are simply to name the end dishes.

I make a quick and simple onion bhaji mix that I’ve fried in the past, but now I prefer to oven bake my bhajis, which reduces the fat and cleaning up, plus my mini oven has a timer on it, which I find handy as I can potter about and not have to hover over the food like you do when something’s on the hob.

Note: although traditional onion bhajis use chickpea flour, this isn’t something I tend to have in the cupboard, so I’ve always used plain (all purpose) flour instead.  I simply don’t have enough use for chickpea flour to find it worthwhile buying, it’d just languish in the cupboard, which is daft.

I buy a bag of onions at a time and chop/freeze the onions, you can use frozen onions in this recipe.

Baked Onion Bhaji Ingredients:

• ½ tablespoon of cornflour
• 75-100 ml tap water
• 2 medium onions, sliced into long strands (not chopped into square chunks)
• 60 grams plain flour, (2 oz).  UK plain flour is US all purpose flour.
• ½ a teaspoon of cumin seeds
• ½ a teaspoon of ground coriander, fresh if you’ve got it (rare!)
• A squirt of spray oil.

Method:

1. Mix together the flour, cornflour, coriander and cumin.
2. Add the water slowly until you’ve got a smooth batter, thick enough to “stick” to the onions. Beat the batter.
3. Pre-cook the onions, to soften them.  You can use the microwave to pre-cook the onions by coating them in either water or oil and microwaving them for 3-4 minutes.
4. Add the sliced and softened onions into the batter and stir until it’s all coated.  The quantity of onions to batter will be that you’ve got a bowl of coated onions, not that you’ve got onions floating in batter.
5. Line a baking tray with foil and use the spray oil, this will prevent the bhajis from sticking.
6. Scoop out a heaped tablespoon of the onion mix, flatten it down on the baking tray and shape it into a bhaji (you can use cookie cutters as a guide to get the shape right if you wish, or just go “free form”).
7. Spray the top of the onion bhajis.
8. Place the tray in a pre-heated oven at 200˚C for 20 minutes, turning them once.  They’re cooked when they’re the colour you like them to be.  If you want them darker, cook for another 5-10 minutes, I prefer them lighter in colour.

Bhaji Flavour Variations: 

There are other ingredients you can add to the mix, if you’ve got them. Why not try adding in ½ teaspoon of any/some/all of chilli powder, ginger or even turmeric.

Cornflour Substitute?

The cornflour is added to help to make the mix thicken – if you’ve not got cornflour you can use a substitute – then just reduce the amount of water and give it a go!  I know it can be nigh on impossible to have the cupboard filled with ingredients you’ll only ever use 1-2x a year!

Bhaji Mix Tip: 

Once you’ve got a mix that you like, then why not make up a batch of it and keep it, ready mixed, in a small jar in the kitchen labelled “onion bhaji mix”

Freezing Onion Bhajis: 

Once baked, you can store these onion bhajis in a covered container in the fridge for a good 3-4 days, or freeze them.  Just put them into a freezer bag and chuck them in the freezer – depending on how many you’ve made you might wrap them up in portions, or separate them with a piece of greaseproof paper so you don’t have to defrost them all at the same time when you just want one or two.

I like to make onion bhaji tortilla wraps, so will always freeze them individually, ready to use in a wrap, or even in a pitta bread or a bread roll, with a splash of mango chutney for a savoury packed lunch.