Onion Bhaji Rings

These are crispy, fragrant and flavourful bites of tender onion! This recipe is a mixture of onion bhaji and Onion Rings, my two most favourite onion dishes.

Onion Bhaji is a starter dish combining thin slices of onion with chickpea flour and aromatics. This is then deep fried to get crispy, fragrant morsels of heaven. Whilst I love ordering this whenever I go to an Indian restaurant, there are many steps to the dish which means either it’s a big hit or we’re left with greasy, soggy pieces of onion. `

Onion rings are a very popular snack. Crispy rings of onion are a perfect accompaniment to almost any dish or situation. You can have them as an appetizer or add them to other dishes like burgers. Onion rings when done right are hard to stop eating. However, when done wrong can be soggy and gluggy, not a pleasant experience.

Onion bhaji rings slice the onions into rings and then coat them in a batter that is essentially made from the basics of onion bhaji – chickpea flour, chilli and ginger. This is then dipped in breadcrumbs and deep fried to get crispy, tasty, onion bhaji rings.  

There are few important parts to the recipe that help make these very crispy and flavourful. Including adding only minimal salt to the batter and using panko breadcrumbs. Following the recipe will ensure that the onion bhaji rings you make are crispy and fragrant!

Ingredients

• 2 Medium brown onions, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 cup besan flour (chickpea flower)
• ¼ cup Plain Flour
• 1 tbl corn starch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• ½ – 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
• 1 green chilli, finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup water
• 1 ½ cup dry panko bread crumbs
• seasoned salt to taste
• Vegetable Oil for frying

Method:

1. Cut the onions into 1 cm slices and separate the slices into rings.
2. In a medium bowl, soak the onion rings in cold water whilst we prepare the batter.
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the besan flour, corn flour, baking powder & red chilli powder.
4. One by one, dip each of the onion slices into the dry flour mixture until they are all covered in the mix and set aside.
5. Add ¼ tsp salt, water, ginger and chilli into the flour mixture. Note, we are only adding a little salt to the actual batter as the salt can make the onion sweat more which means the batter may slide off.
6. Whisk in the water. You can use either a whisk or a fork.
7. Evenly spread the panko breadcrumbs on a medium plate.
8. Then dip the floured onion rings into the wet batter to coat them and lightly tap on the side of the bowl to get rid of the excess.
9. One by one dip each of the onion rings into the crumbs and place in the crumbs plate. Use your fingers to coat some crumbs onto the rings.
10. Place the rings on a cooling rack and to minimize mess you can place either cling wrap, or aluminium foil under the rack.
11. Repeat until all rings are coated.
12. Let the rings rest for 10 minutes as this allows the batter to stick more to the onion when cooking.
13. In a deep bottomed pan or wok, heat about 5 – 8cm of oil.
14. When you think the oil is ready, add a little bit of the wet batter to taste. If this rises to the surface bubbling and turning golden then the oil is ready.
15. Deep fry the onion rings a few at a time ensuring they don’t stick to one another. Fry for 2 to 3 minutes flipping over halfway through. You want them to be cooked through and golden brown.
16. Place them on paper towels when fried in order to drain excess oil.
17. Season with salt to taste and serve!
18. You can serve with mint yoghurt, ketchup or hot sauce of your choice.