Starters
Onion Bhajis
Crisp, lacy fritters of thinly sliced onion bound in a spiced gram-flour batter with ginger, green chilli, cumin and fresh coriander, deep-fried until golden and served hot with a cool mint raita.
- Serves 4
- Hands-on 25 min
- Stand 10 min
- Makes about 12
- Oil at 170–180°C
- Indian
Method
Put the sliced onions (3 onions) in a large bowl with 1 tsp salt, mix well with your hands and leave for 10 minutes. The salt draws out the onion juice, which helps make the batter.
Add the gram flour (120 g), cumin (1 tsp), turmeric (½ tsp), chilli powder (½ tsp), baking powder (½ tsp), ginger (15 g), green chilli (1) and coriander (a little). Mix, then add cold water a tablespoon at a time (3–5 tbsp) until every strand of onion is coated in a thick, sticky batter. It should cling, not run.
Heat the oil (1 litre) in a deep pan or wok to 170–180°C, or until a drop of batter sizzles and rises at once. Never fill the pan more than a third full.
Using two spoons, drop loose heaps of the mixture (about 2 tbsp each) into the oil, 4 at a time. Fry for 4–5 minutes, turning, until deep golden and crisp. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper. Keep warm in a low oven while you fry the rest.
For the raita, stir the mint (10 g) and lemon juice (½ lemon) into the yoghurt (150 g) with a pinch of salt. Serve the bhajis hot with the raita and lemon wedges.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
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See also
Chef’s notes
- Keep the bhajis loose and craggy rather than pressed into balls: the thin edges are what go crisp.
- Too hot and they brown before the middle cooks; too cool and they soak up oil. Fry a test bhaji first.
- For a lighter version, fry 1 tbsp heaps in 1 cm of oil in a frying pan, flattening them slightly, 3 minutes each side.
- Gram flour is chickpea flour, also sold as besan.
How this recipe was developed
We compared the onion bhajis on BBC Good Food (the most-rated version and Mary Cadogan’s red-onion version) and the BBC Food recipe by Robin Watkinson.
- Salt the onions first. We salt the sliced onions so their own juice starts the batter and less water is needed.
- Gram flour and a little baking powder. BBC Good Food’s easy bhajis (4.4/5 from 114 ratings) use 100 g gram flour with baking powder for lightness; we use a little more flour for three onions.
- Ginger, cumin and coriander. Robin Watkinson’s BBC Food version (4.8/5 from 28 ratings) adds ginger, garlic and fresh coriander; we kept ginger, cumin and coriander.
- Raita on the side. Both BBC Good Food versions serve a mint yoghurt raita; we do the same.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 1 November 2026):
- BBC Good Food (Lulu Grimes): Easy onion bhajis (4.4/5, 114 ratings)
- BBC Good Food (Mary Cadogan): Red onion & chilli bhajis with mint & garlic raita (4.8/5, 62 ratings)
- BBC Food (Robin Watkinson): Onion bhajis (4.8/5, 28 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.