It’s the start of monsoon season, rain is lashing on my sea facing windows and the sea is mesmerizingly turbulent. Watching the rains with a steaming cup of tea and a plate of hot kanda bhaji is a must during rains. It’s a match made on plate and your pallet. Khekda bhaji, the crab like kanda bhaji is a must during this season. Onion is thinly sliced and marinated with salt. Gram flour incorporated without addition of any water and is fried till crisp.
There are other versions of the ever popular Kanda Bhaji. My grandmother used to prepare soft textured version of these. Her version had groundnuts and cracked cumin and coriander seeds. In rainy weather the aroma of frying bhaji used to flood the neighbourhood and like a magnet it used to attract us home.
Bhaji are also known as Pakoda or Pakode in other parts of the country. These deep fried vegetable fritters are made with Vegetables coated with gram flour batter and fried. Several different vegetables are used to prepare the bhaji, right from onion, potato, capsicum, brinjal to cauliflower, sponge gourd, palak, chillies etc. Apart from vegetables paneer also is used to make pakodas.In short anything can be dipped in batter and fried. We find home chefs and chefs using their imagination to make new innovative crisps. This has lead us to egg pakoda, cheese pakoda and chicken pakoda.
All these bhaji are prepared by dipping something in the batter and frying. But gota bhaji are prepared by mixing the ingredients and making balls for frying.Methi gota are popular ones. Fresh methi leaves are added to the besan flour, chilli and seasonings are added to make these delectable gota bhaji.
Bhaji are also made from soaked dals or lentils like moog dal or chana dal. The soaked dal is ground coarsely to make bhaji. After frying these bhaji become golden in colour and are crunchy outside and spongy inside. These bhaji have their own special place in our hearts just like the crunchy kanda bhaji. You can find the recipes in my cookbook “From Aaji’s Kitchen” available on www.amazon.in, www.flipkart.comwww.becomeshakespeare.com