Homemade onion bhajis in an air fryer?

[FizzingAda]

My first air fryer is arriving tomorrow, so looking forward to experimenting. Love Indian food. I make my own onion bhajis with gram flour, and they are nothing like the stodgy balls from supermarkets, as I don,t use loads of batter, they are more onion than batter. I actually hâte deep frying, and have a small kitchen, so the smell lingers for days, ugh. Can they be done in an air fryer? Perhaps if they were put in silicone cupcake moulds? Newbie with this, so any advice appreciated! Can you do samosas in it also?

Omg I googled this last night! Have also just got an airfryer. So placemarking but no actual help. None of the recipes I saw online mentioned silicon cupcake moulds.

These are baked not fried so I’m sure you could adapt the recipe to an air fryer.

https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/baked-onion-bhajis-pyaz-ke-pakore/

Thanks karmakameleon. I note she fries her onions first - I just slice mine very thin and cook from raw. I have tried them in a regular oven, but they are not the same. I did look around the Inotèrent, with no luck, and Imjust got an AF cookbook, also with nothing similar in it. I'll just need to try it myself and see what happens. I'll post when I've tried it!
strictlyAAf the book I have just bought has a page of utensils, including silicone fairy cake cases. Most of the things I already have, so no need to buy anything special.I suppose ramekin dishes would work equally well, if not better.

Here you go
https://greatcurryrecipes.net/2020/11/17/air-fryer-onion-bhajis/#mv-creation-722-jtr

or a ytube one

Don't use the bloody awful fry lite in your airfryer, it will ruin the non stick.

If you look under the youtube recipe there are quite a few Indian Airfryer recipes on her channel.

Thanks Fishpie2, that’s made me very happy! Great Youtube channel, have subscribed.
no,I don't use those shop spray things, have heard they ruin pans.

I've done the curry guy ones, they were OK but definitely not as good as deep frying.

Lots of food is better tasting deep fried but this was an Airfryer question.

If you want to use an oil spray, Sainsbo's own-brand Vegetable oil is 100% rapeseed - no nasties to ruin pans.

@FishPie2 I was giving my opinion on a recipe that was suggested that I myself have actually tried. I've tried several versions in the air fryer and have been disappointed with them all. The OP has stated she's tried oven baked versions and was disappointed as they weren't the same. An airfryer is essentially a small fan oven so chances are she will have the same kind of result. Not sure what point you were trying to make when I was simply offering my opinion.

the flavour and texture achieved from deep-frying is impossible with other methods - otherwise deep-frying would have largely disappeared into irrelevancy being more unhealthy, scary, and higher-risk. I have enjoyed the results from the Meera Sodha recipe shared up thread, but it is not the same or as good as a proper deep-fried onion bhaji. I tend to agree with @TheLadyIsAVamp in that an air-fryer is a mini convection oven so is unrealistic to expect results that are closer to deep frying.

www.instagram.com/reel/C2VCqCyM1kH/?igsh=MXYwbmF2cmg0MjdtdA==

Here you go....

Or you can just buy a spray bottle and put 3/4 oil to 1/4 water in it and give it a bloody good shake before you use it. Works for me 😉

Can I ask why you put water in with the oil? What does it do?

I make my own too and tried them in the air fryer, they were awful. They turned out very chewy and shiny, the texture and taste were not the same at all unfortunately.

Watching too.

I tried making in an air fryer in cup cake cases. But not nice.
my batter was too thin to dollop into the air fryer directly.
What have others tried with success?

I've had my Af for about four days, so getting used to it. I have found a couple of YouTube videos that make bhajis like I do, (also samosas), so I will follow them and post the results. (I don't use a lot of batter normally, so mine are more onion than dough, and are usually very crispy.). Watch this space!

Update! So I used a recipe I found on YouTube. Here's a link to the person's website recipe https://ministryofcurry.com/onion-pakodas/. I followed the recipe, apart from not having any coriander handy, or rice flour, so used the 1/2 tsp baking powder. I used 2 medium onions, sliced very thinly (like an orange). I found it didn't bind together well, so added a bit more gram flour, plus a little water. Sprayed the basket, nine dollops added, cooked as per the recipe. They were absolutely delicious, light and crispy all the way through. They are more onion than batter, so unlike the heavy doughy ones you get in a supermarket. I actually thought they were nicer than deep fried ones as not so greasy, and DH thought so too. Here's a pic of mine.

Ah amazing! Thank you @FizzingAda

What consistency was the batter?

Well it's not really a batter as such - it's quite a small amount of flour and moisture, just enough to hold the onion bits together. They are quite loose when they go in the fryer, but sort of fuse together as they cook. Because there isn't a lot of flour they are so light and crispy, like the best deep fried ones I've had in an Indian restaurant. The supermarket bhajis, and some restaurants use too much batter ratio to onion, which makes them stodgy.
if you make them let us know how you get on!

I will do.
i was so disappointed with the first lot i made but this sounds promising.

I saw this recipe today and it looks exactly what you're after.

www.instagram.com/stories/airfryergirluk/3291153375175886975?igsh=MTZ6N3EzMDE4cjRseA==