We love veg here in the development kitchen – there’s sometimes a competition on who can use veg in the most creative way.

Lots of what we make here at SK Foods is vegetarian and we think they lose none of the flavour or impact through not having any meat!

Spring rolls and samosas are great examples of what can be achieved with some humble veggies and pastry. A vegetarian chilli is also a thing of beauty when spiced well and packed with healthy veg.

To celebrate International Vegetarian Week we have created this recipe – for a vegetarian scotch egg onion bhaji –  for you to try at home. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 3 free range eggs (medium) – hard or soft boiled

Ingredients for Bhaji’s:

  • thinly sliced white onions – 600g
  • gram flour – 80g
  • cornflour – 20g
  • baking powder – 10g (1tsp)
  • salt – 8g (3 quarters of tsp)
  • sugar – 8g (1tsp)

Spice mix :

  • chilli powder – 1tsp
  • turmeric powder – 1tsp
  • crushed coriander seeds – 1tsp
  • cumin seeds – 1tbsp
  • kolonji seeds – 1tsp
  • yoghurt – 60g

Methodology:

Prepare your eggs in advance and have them cooked and chilled. Mix salt and sugar with sliced onions and let it sit for 20min. You will use a process of osmosis which will withdraw the bitter and unnecessary moisture from the final product. This will result in light and crisp bhajis. After the given time drain the excess moisture out. Use a cloth and squeeze tightly. Finally transfer the bhajis to a mixing bowl and mix with the remaining ingredients (spice mix). At this stage the onions are ready to form and drop into hot oil to fry to make up small bhajis.

Assemble:

Pre-heat deep fat fryer to 180C. For the Scotch egg effect you need to coat the cooked egg with onion mixture. It is quite difficult to stick the onions to the smooth egg surface so dust the eggs with corn or plain flour. Squeeze the onion mixture into egg (about 80-100g) and roll evenly with your hands to flatten the surface. Start frying Scotch egg bhajis individually for 4-5min and drain the excess oil onto a kitchen towel when ready.

Serving suggestions:

Serve with rich tomato and coriander chutney, mango chutney or cooling yoghurt. You can serve the bhajis hot as a starter or eat it cold for lunch time.

About Neil Shaefer
Marketing & Communications Executive of SK Foods.
Your food. Our Passion.