Indian Takeaway Onion Bhajis

These restaurant style onion bhajis are fried twice, first at 160C (320F) then, after cooling for a few minutes, at 180C (360F) for crispness and colour. My initial mix was too wet and didn't bind the onions very well so I added more chickpea (gram) flour to get a thicker batter. Also please take note I had too much oil in the pan which overflowed resulting in a big clean up!

Ingredients

3 large onions, sliced
1tsp fine sea salt
140g + extra if needed gram flour
4Tbs rice flour
1Tbs garlic paste
2.5cm (1 inch) piece of peeled ginger cut into matchsticks
2 fresh green chillies (optional)
3Tbs chopped coriander leaves
1Tbs panch phoran (Indian 5 spice)*
2Tbs rapeseed oil plus extra for frying

Panch Phoran is equal amounts
Cumin seeds
Fennel seeds
Brown mustard seeds
Fenugreek seeds
Nigella (black onion ) seeds

Toast seeds over a medium high heat in a dry frying pan just before using for best results.
Based on a recipe from The Curry Guy by Dan Toombs