I love vegetable curry, especially potato and spinach, but one of the things I like most is the bits and pieces that go with it, like naan bread and onion bahji’s. There are plenty of nice ones that you can buy, but my Dad and I like home made ones the best:
It is so easy to do: the main ingredient (apart from onions, of course) is Gram flour – that is flour made from chick peas most supermarkets have it.
You need about 150 grams, a bit of salt and 5 ml of bicarbonate of soda, then the spices; there are lots of recipes so you can vary this to suit your tastes but we use:
- cardamon pods, about 4 – seeds only, crushed (throw away the husks)
- turmeric (1 tsp)
- chili powder (1 tsp)
- garam masala (1/2 a tsp)
- about 2 tablespoons of freshly chopped coriander
- coriander seeds, crushed (2 teaspoons)
Mix all the spices together with the flour
Then add 2 big onions, very finely chopped. Add a little water to bind it all. Then get a deep fat fryer hot (can do it in the frying pan) and with two spoons make shallow patties and ease them gently into the oil (OK, Dad does this bit).
Cook for about 4 minutes until they are golden brown, drain and cut one to check it is cooked all the way through – if you make them too think they may still be soggy in the middle – so make them flatter, you can put them back in for a couple more minutes to make sure they are cooked all the way through. Just do 3 or 4 at a time, and when cooked drain them on kitchen paper.
Serve with lime wedges
Rhi.
