Rice bhajias (Rice fritters)

Posted onAuthorMina Joshi10 Comments

What are bhajias (often called bhajis and pakoras )?   Bhajias are generally vegetables sliced and  dipped in a spiced  chickpea batter and fried until crispy.  Sometimes,vegetables are grated or chopped and added to the spiced chickpea batter and little spoonfuls are dropped into hot oil to fry until crispy.

Bhajias in any form or shape are a great favorite in this country.  You just have to walk down any street food markets and will see that it has the biggest queue of people waiting to be served.  These are made by adding rice to the spiced chickpea batter.  These bhajias are my old time favourite comfort food as a weekend snack.  It’s perfect for using up left over cooked rice.  You can serve them as snacks with any dip.  They make a perfect starter too.

 

 

Ingredients for 20-25 fritters

  • 2 heaped cups of cooked rice
  • 250 grams of chick pea flour (also known as besan)
  • 1 grated onion
  • 2-3 chopped green chillies
  • 1 chopped red sweet chilly pepper
  • 1 tbls grated ginger
  • 2 tbls whole coriander
  • 2 tsps ajma (carom seeds)
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp coarse black pepper
  • 2 pinches of soda bi carbonate
  • 1 pinch of turmeric
  • 350 cc warm water
  • 1 litre oil for deep frying

Method:

1.  Transfer the rice to a large mixing bowl.

2.  Add the chopped onions and red peeper, chilies, ginger and garlic

 

3.  Add the spices – salt, pepper, whole coriander,ajma and turmeric.

 

4.  Add the chickpea flour and mix it using the warm water. Go easy on the water as you may not need to use all of it.   The mixture shouldn’t be too runny.

5.  Heat the oil and drop a small piece of mixture in the oil.  If it rises up -the oil is ready for frying the bhajias.  Add a couple of pinches of soda bicarbonate to the mixture with a tablespoon of the hot oil from the fryer.  Mix this and using a tablespoon, gently drop small bhajias in the oil.  As soon as they rise up, turn them and cook until golden brown.
5.  Serve them hot with any dip or chutney.
6.  When entertaining, you can make a variety of bhajias – spring onion bhajias; onion bhajias; lentil bhajia; bread bhajias; maru bhajia

Other pakora recipes you may like from my blog are:

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