Special thanks to my favourite chef, Chris Bridge for this fantastically simple recipe for onion bhajis and you don’t need a deep fat fryer to make these. Thanks also to my niece Zoe who was a dab hand at bhaji making from her ski chaleting days and was able to help out admirably! ‘Can I help she asked?’
Well thank you, yes you can. Left me free to set the table, warm the plates and most importantly, open the wine!
This was such a treat for me as I can’t go out for an Indian meal due to having a nut, dairy, soya, tomato and celery and wheat allergy. All are hard to avoid when eating out but nuts are particularly risky in an Indian restaurant.
So on curry night I have a nut free ilumi curry meal and everyone else either has a normal curry ready meal or takeaway curry. I can heat up the ilumi meal in the microwave and feel just like them. Ilumi curry meals are really tasty too.
What you’ll need to make wheat and dairy free onion bhajis
- 2 large onions – very finely sliced into rings or strips
- 2 large free range eggs
- 2 cups of gluten free plain flour
- 1/4 of a cup of gluten free self raising flour
- 2 teaspoons of cumin
- 2 teaspoons of turmeric
- Salt to taste
- Squirt of lemon juice
Now you could add whatever spices you wanted to this and experiment but this is what I did and they were delicious.
You could also slice up any vegetable to make these. I know a few of you are allergic to onions. Why not try cabbage, leek, carrot… I haven’t tested this but why shouldn’t it work?
So now, how to actually make them.
How to make freefrom onion bhajis
- Make sure your onions a very finely sliced, if you have a slice attachment for a food processor it helps here as if they are too thick you can burn the outside waiting for inside to cook. Mine could have been a tad thinner but it’s not easy doing it by hand! They cooked OK though so all good.
- In a bowl add a generous amount of spices and seasoning and enough flour to coat the onions when tossed about. I’ve guessed the amount above, but if the mixture is too sticky add a bit more flour. If too dry add a little water. It’s not an exact science as no two onions or eggs are identical. We had a bit of tinkering to get it to hold into a ball shape without being too sticky in your hands. There is a fine line between falling apart and sticking together.
- You can use gluten free plain, but a bit of GF self raising gives a touch of extra lightness. We used both.
- Once the onions are coated add the eggs and mix to a very sticky paste that you can loosely mould to a ball.
- Flatten your bhajis into patties or pancakes so you can shallow fry in a frying pan perfectly well. (if you have a deep fat fryer you can use that)
- Fry for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. This depends how hot your oil is but shouldn’t take too long.
- For added dimensions throw in a few slices portobello mushrooms
This recipe made about 15 small bhajis which were ALL eaten in one sitting. I was hoping for left overs!
Ta Dah! The finished product
Please excuse my dreadful photograpy. These tasted amazing and contrary to these pictures, were not burnt. It was not great lighting. That’s my excuse.
I also really enjoyed making these. You have to really get your hands dirty and I reckon kids would love this one too. They are so quick and easy to make. While Mr What Allergy and Niece What Allergy were getting their takeaway I made these! With a little help from the very expert ski chalet niece who made them every Friday for a year!
PS. Will be blogging shortly about our holiday to the Lakes when we stayed at Summergrove Halls. Watch this space.
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