Recipe- Tea Time Snack Kurkure Kanda Bhaji

Kurkurit Kanda Bhaji also known as Onion Pakoda / Onion Fritters is a fried crispy and spicy Indian snack made using sliced onions that are covered with besan (chickpea flour) along with herbs and spices and deep-fried till golden brown. This is a vegan and gluten-free recipe.

Monsoon is just around the corner! A perfect excuse to indulge in a deep-fried snack! isn’t it? In India, onion fritters are a much-loved snack during monsoon served with spicy coriander mint chutney or tomato ketchup along with a hot cup of ginger tea or coffee.

These are known by several names depending upon region to region such as Kanda bhaji, pyaz ke pakode, onion pakoda, kanda bhajiya, onion bhaji to name a few. This Onion fritters can be made in a jiffy with basic minimal ingredients that are easily available in your home. No fancy ingredients required!

Ingredients

2 cups Onions Thinly Sliced
1 cup Chickpea Flour (Besan)
1 tablespoon Rice Flour (Chawal ka aata)
2 teaspoon Coriander Powder or Whole Coriander Seeds
1 teaspoon Carrom Seeds (Ajwain)
1/2 teaspoon Turmeric Powder
2 teaspoon Red Chilly Powder (or as per your preference)
1/4th cup Coriander leaves (Cilantro) finely chopped
A pinch of Sugar
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Method

- To make Onion fritters, let’s make the batter.

- In a bowl, take the thinly sliced onion and add 1/2 (half) teaspoon salt. Mix salt well with onions and while doing so lightly crush the onions by hands or by a spoon.

- Keep this mixture aside for about 15 minutes. Adding salt to onions makes the onions release their water which we will use to make the batter. We will not add any excess water for making the dough.

- Now let’s start adding spices and herbs one by one before we add the chickpea flour (besan) and rice flour.

- Let’s start by adding, turmeric powder, coriander powder, carrom seeds, finely chopped cilantro (coriander leaves), a teaspoon of sugar and red chilli powder.

- Now add chickpea flour (besan) and 2 teaspoon rice flour.

- Here you need to eyeball the quantity of chickpea flour as we are not going to use any water. Add chickpea flour till you get a soft dough-like consistency. In case if you feel the dough has become very hard then sprinkle little water but otherwise try to avoid it as much as possible.

- At this moment, check for seasoning. We added salt to onions but not to the batter. Hence if required add salt as per taste.

- The addition of rice flour will help in making these onion fritters crisp and crunchy. In case you don’t have or rather don’t want to add rice flour then add 1 tablespoon of hot oil in the batter, this also makes the pakoda (fritters) crispy.

- Keep oil to heat. Make sure that the temperature of the oil should not be too high nor too low. If it is too low, fritters will absorb too much oil while frying and make the pakoda soggy.

- Now, drop small portions of the onion batter into the hot oil and deep fry till golden brown on medium flame.

- Onion Fritters / Kurkurit Kanda Bhaji / Onion Pakoda is ready.

- Serve with coriander mint chutney or ketchup along with a cup of tea or coffee.

- If you want, as in many households, a pinch of chaat masala or raw mango powder is sprinkled over the fritters (pakoda) to give it a nice tangy zing. It’s absolutely optional though.