ONION BAJJI | VENGAYA BAJJI RECIPE – SNACKS RECIPES
Crispy, puffy South Indian Onion Bajji (Vengaya Bajji) made with a perfect 3:1 ratio of besan and rice flour. The ultimate quick tea-kadai style evening snack.
Servings: 10
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Besan flour / Kadala maavu
- ¼ cup Rice flour / Arisi maavu
- a big pinch Cooking soda / baking soda
- a pinch Orange food color optional
- 1.5 tsp Red chilli powder add 1 tsp for less spice ( Use Kashmiri chilli powder for bright color)
- ¼ tsp Hing/Asafetida
- ½ tsp Ajwain/ omam/ Carom seeds OR cumin seeds/ jeera
- Salt – As needed
- ¾ to 1 cup Water adjust
- Cooking oil - To deep fry
Instructions
- Wash and cut the head & tail portions of onions & slice into 1/4 inch thick rings. You can cut the onion with skin to get slices evenly. Set aside.
- In a wide bowl , mix all the flours, powders, Ajwain / carom seeds or cumin seeds, salt and add water to make a slightly watery batter( like dosa batter). If you make it too watery, bajji will have tails.
- At the same time , thick batter yeilds hard bajjis. The batter should be slightly thick & flow like a ribbon. It should coat the onion pieces well. Adjust water & flour accordingly. Dip the onion rings in the batter & coat it well.
- Heat oil in a kadai and check with a drop of batter to find the correct heating point.ie. If you put a drop of batter , the batter will rise immediately and floats on top. As soon as you get this heating point , simmer the flame and drop the onion rings coated well with batter.
- Deep fry till the color changes golden brown and the bubbles ceases..Flip it and again cook for a minute. Drain & remove in a tissue paper.
- Serve hot immediately..We love to have with coconut chutney !!
Video
Notes
- Addition of food color gives a nice color to bajji as you see in tea shops.
- My mom & mil adds cumin seeds but i used ajwain for an enhanced flavour. Use any as per your wish.
- Please don’t skip adding baking soda. It gives a puffy, soft bajji. Make sure you don’t add much because bajji will be very oily and it is unhealthy too.
- Adjust the consistency of batter. Batter should not be too thin or too thick. If your batter has become too thin, add besan & rice flour in 3:1 ratio and adjust the batter. If it is too thick add more water. Always add the extra water using a tbsp & check it.
- In the video, I have added 1 cup of besan flour and 1/3 cup of rice flour as per 3:1 ratio.