Spring onion bhajis with radish raita

By Birgitta

Great with drinks, especially a few very cold beers. Makes about 16 bhajis, to serve four to six.

Ingredients

• For the raita:
• 90 g chickpea (gram or besan) flour
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 good pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 good pinch black onion (nigella or kalonji) seeds
• 3-4 tbsp finely chopped picked coriander leaves
• 180 g spring onions, trimmed and cut into quite chunky slices
• 100-12 0ml beer (or water)
• Groundnut oil, for deep-frying
• 100 g fresh, firm radishes, topped and washed
• 50 g fresh, soft goat's cheese
• 150 ml whole yogurt
• 1-2 tsp chopped fresh mint leaves
• 1 pinch flaky sea salt

Preparation

Step 1

First, make the raita. Slice the radishes very thinly, about 1-2mm. Mash the cheese into the yogurt and beat until smooth. Stir in the radish and mint, along with a good pinch of sea salt.

To make the bhajis, sieve the flours, ground coriander, cumin, salt and cayenne into a bowl. Whisk in the onion seeds, coriander and spring onions. Stirring as you go, gradually pour in the beer or water until you have a smoothish batter - you may not need all the liquid.

Pour the groundnut oil into a deep, heavy-bottomed saucepan to a depth of about 8-10cm and warm over a medium heat - you want the oil to be hot, but not too hot, because the spring onions and flour need to cook through without the outside of the bhajis burning - 165C is perfect (as a rough rule of thumb, that's when a cube of white bread dropped into the pan should turn golden in 90 seconds). You'll need to cook them in batches, so don't overcrowd the pan - drop spoonfuls of the batter into the oil and cook until golden, about four to five minutes. Drain on kitchen paper briefly and serve hot, with the raita alongside.