Onion fritters...rainy day snack

I was going to post something else today... but it was such a perfect day for onion fritters (pakora) and cutting chai. It had been raining alot since yesterday. On such days, I just want to curl up under a blanket with a cup of cutting chai and hot garma garam pakoras with chutney...yummmmmm! Reminds me of the street food I used to have back in college. Saving myself from the rain and running inside dhabba to get a plate of garam bhajiya.  Fritters, pakora, bhajiya all means the same thing - after all whats in a name? Onion fritters are basically very thinly sliced onions just covered in gram flour, deep fried in oil on medium to get the crispiness. There that neatly sums up the entire post LOL!! If you can visualize what I am talking about.....you needn't read any further :-)

I learnt the sweating technique of onions way back from Tarla Dalal's newletters. It has never failed. I have never had to add water to incorporate gram flour. Amount of gram flour may seem less but its enough to coat the onions to make a crispy layer when deep fried.

In case you have been scratching your head over "cutting chai"....let me demystify it for you. In Mumbai and around that...tea is usually served in  small glass filled half way - cutting-(the cup into half)-chai. It could be flavoured usually with green  cardamom, very milky and sweet. Perfect companion for our bhajiyas :-)

I used my Lock and Lock Eco mug for my tea. Its a porcelain mug with silicon lid and sleeve, so completely comfortable to hold even with pipping hot liquid. Its so cute - proclaims "I'm not a paper mug" very boldy LOL!!!! Its a savior of sorts for me whenever I want to have tea. Trust me, with a bouncing toddler at home....you wouldn't want to have tea in an open cup. Particularly when he has taken fancy to mommy's shiny blue travel mug - its  so much fun to open, close,open close, open close, open , close....*sigh*

Ok so by now you are probably itching to get to the recipe, so I won't torture you with bedtime story anymore.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups thinly sliced onions
1/2 cup gram flour (besan)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro ( hara dhaniya)
1 green chilli sliced thin
1/3 tsp turmeric powder
1/3 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp of salt (adjust according to taste)
Oil for deep frying.

Get Cooking

Mix salt with onion slices and let it stand for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the onions would have sweated enough...thats right sweated...salt is the culprit here. Mix rest of the ingredients thoroughly. If you  still have some dry gram flour left, add about teaspoon of water to mix it. Dont add more, because onions will continue to sweat and then batter will become runny. You can see the sheen on onions if you look closely in the picture.

Heat oil on medium heat. Make sure the oil is hot..not smoking hot. You don't want to brown the fritters too fast- you'll end up with soggy stuff. Have you seen diet snapple ad? Drop small  batches in hot oil and deep fry on medium till it turns golden brown. Drain and put it on paper towel remove any excess oil. There your crunchy bhajiya/pakora/fritters are ready. Did you make your chutey yet.

Oh wait, we still need to make cutting chai. Mix water and milk in equal amount and heat. When its quite warm...add 3 coarsely pounded green cardamom. Let it come to boil. Add about 3 tea bags.  Simmer it for few minutes. Strain in to your cup and add desired amount of sugar. I like this version on the sweeter side.

Now you must get your chutney. I can't guarantee this pakora's will last long  *wink* *wink*

If you like the Lock n Lock serving dish and Eco mug, check it out on their website.

1. Lock & Lock Eco Mug, 1.6-Cup Size, Brown
2. Lock&Lock BOROSEAL, Borosilicate Glass Pan, Orange, 4.8-Cup

Sending this post for Aipi's Bookmarked Recipes event started by Priya