Not Just a Man's World

It was my birthday a few weeks ago and I placed an order (with Chris) for a large, slow-cooked coconut curry.  Chris cooks amazing curries.

To make it into a really big treat I fancied cooking some onion bhajis, since I’ve got a real soft spot for them.  Hunting on the internet for onion bhaji and paleo I found nothing.  Except my own website and the recipe for French onion soup!

Here’s the recipe I eventually put together using a few different resources.  In particular I wanted to avoid deep-fat frying them.  I don’t have a deep-fat fryer and baking seems better than frying.

Paleo onion bhajis

Ingredients: (makes 5-6 bhajis)
1 large onion
5 tbsp ground almonds (or almond flour)
1 tsp tomato puree

Pan spices:
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp cayenne pepper (chilli powder)

Bowl spices:
¼ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and grease a baking tray.
2. Slice the onions.  Having tried this a couple of times I recommend cutting the onion into quarters and slicing these.  If you leave the onion as sliced halves you’ll find the bhajis fall apart because of the long strands of onion.
3. Heat a little oil in a pan, add the onion, and leave to fry over a low heat for about ten minutes until soft and lightly browned.  Keep an eye on the onion and move it about every so often.  You don’t want the onion to burn but you do want it to cook through.
4. Meanwhile, place the ground almonds and bowl spices into a bowl and stir together thoroughly.
5. When the onions are cooked turn the heat off.  Add the pan spices and mix together thoroughly.
6. Place the spiced onions into the bowl with the ground almond mix.
7. In a small glass mix the tomato puree with approximately 4 tsp of cold water (about half a shot glass of water.
8. Add this to the onion mix and then get your hands in to mix it up.  Mix thoroughly, squeezing the juices from the onion as you work the powder into the onions.  The mix should be moist and sticky but not watery.  If it doesn’t seem moist enough add more water a teaspoon at a time.
9. Form the onion into small circular discs, about 2 inches in diameter, squeezing them as you form the discs to make sure they are densely packed.
10. Place the discs onto the baking tray and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, turning them halfway through cooking.
11. If you want them to have that fried look of restaurant onion bhajis, heat a little oil in a pan and fry them briefly on each side.

The only problem with these is that they can easily fall apart (though they taste just as good).  If they do this, the most likely problem is that you didn’t squeeze them together hard enough, though it is also possible that the moisture level wasn’t quite right either.  This will depend on the size of onion you used so a little experimentation may be needed. 

If you are bothered by the crumbliness, try pressing the crumbled bhaji into a metal biscuit cutter standing in an oiled pan, make sure it’s pressed in a tightly as possible and briefly fry before removing the cutter and turning the bhaji carefully to fry the second side.

If you’re doing the bhajis for guests I recommend baking just a couple of bhajis first to check the consistency and moisture of the mix.

Birthday dinner - lamb curry and onion bhajis (and yes, there are peas in the curry - special treat)

Related posts:

1. Paleo recipes: French onion soup
2. Paleo recipes: beef curry
3. Paleo recipes: onion tart
4. Paleo kitchen experiments – pumpkin soup and seeds