Wild garlic transforms the humble onion bhaji into something extra special. Get the recipe below.
A forager's feast!
After finally locating not one but two wild garlic patches near my house I've been using wild garlic in everything from pasta sauces to salads, scones and now onion bhajis!
If you've found your way to this recipe I'm guessing you're already hooked on the sweet subtle flavour of wild garlic. So I want dwell on how the wild garlic transforms the simple onion bhaji into a side dish fit for a forager's feast!
Why not cook up some of my other favourite Indian recipes and you'll have a banquet ready in no time.
This recipe will make roughly 16 onion bhajis and I challenge you not to eat them at once! It took all the self control I could muster not to devour one of these tasty morsels the second the first bhaji came out of the frying pan.
The smell alone was enough to lure Jon into the kitchen! He had his hand slapped a few times as he tried to sneak a bhaji when he thought I wasn't looking. When will he learn I have eyes in the back of my head...
The recipe
These bhajis are best served still warm with a cool mint and cucumber raita.
Wild Garlic Onion Bhajis
Ingredients
- 100 grams chickpea flour also known as gram flour
- 3 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1.5 tablespoon medium curry powder
- 1 handful wild garlic leaves
- 1 large white onion
- 100-150 millilitres beer or water
- oil for frying
Instructions
- Mix together the chickpea flour and spices in a bowl.
- Rinse the wild garlic leaves and pat dry.
- Thinly slice the wild garlic and the onions and add them to the spiced chickpea flour mix.
- Toss the wild garlic ribbons and the sliced onion to ensure they are well coated.
- Slowly add the first 100ml of the beer (or water) and stir until a smooth, thick, sticky batter has formed around the wild garlic and onions. You may not need the extra 50ml of beer - use as required.
- Cover the bottom of a heavy bottomed sauce pan or frying pan with 1-2cm of oil.
- Heat the oil to roughly 165C. You can test that the oil is ready by dropping a small amount of batter into the oil - it should bubble immediately.
- Scoop up roughly 1 heaped tablespoon of the onion bhaji mix and carefully spoon into the oil. Repeat with a few more spoonfuls, being careful not to overcrowd the pan.
- Let the first batch of bhajis cook for 4-5 minutes or until they are golden brown.
- Carefully turn the bhajis over and cook for another 4-5 minutes until golden.
- Remove the bhajis from the oil once cooked and drain on kitchen paper.
- Repeat the process until you've used all of the mix.
- Serve while still hot.
Notes
Serve with
More Indian inspired recipes
For the full range of Indian inspired recipes check out the Indian recipe archive.
Kavita Favelle says
I have always known these as pakoras, but same thing, and now I'm kicking myself wondering why I never added wild garlic into them before! Genius!