Veggie bhajis with mint and coconut chutney
Grab that big sharp knife; you’re making veggie julienne! In other lives we trained to be chefs and vegetable cuts, along with from-scratch stocks, sauces like béchamel, and proper pastry were the bedrock of our education. Ah… veggie cuts. Brunoise… mirepoix… baton… batonette…paysanne… julienne… tutors would come to our work benches with a measuring tape to check our cuts were precisely just-so. How you cut vegetables was a mark of professional skill and we took pride in the task. Mind you, back then we also took pride in starching our toques, keeping our aprons white and making aspic. We’ve kind of moved on.
Officially, julienne should measure around 3mmx3mmx5cm and don’t start us on ‘fine’ julienne which are even weenier. It takes practice to turn out pile after pile of precise, identical, neat julienne and we’re a bit rusty ourselves these days. You need to first cut your veggies into 5cm lengths, then cut the sides square so you have an even, stable shape to deal with. Then, you cut 3mm-thick lengthways slices from each piece, after which you stack the slices and cut them into 3mm thick lengths. Easy! And… time-consuming, if you’re not adept. In a restaurant, all the offcuts from squaring-off the veg went into stocks and soups; nothing got wasted, or there was hell to pay (head chefs were known to rummage through waste bins to see if anyone was chucking out useable food). This is a bit harder to achieve at home and we recommend using a mandoline to make your neat, evenly-thick slices, without bothering to square them off first. Just, you know. Don’t cut your fingers.
What’s the point of creating such anally-precise vegetable cuts, we hear you ask? Well. they look neat. Plus, they all cook at the same rate if they are all the same size. Some dishes ‘eat’ better if the vegetables and other ingredients are finely cut, plus finely cut veg will distribute better though mixtures like the stiff batter here.
Bhajis, as you can guess from the photo, are a type of fritter popular in India as a snack or appetiser. There are tons of different variations; there are potato ones, spinach ones, paneer, chilli, and cauliflower ones. We like mixing a bunch of veggies together and here we’ve opted for potato, sweet potato and carrot; but use what you like. You could use cauliflower, broccoli, parsnips or fennel; just make sure to cut everything to an even fineness, and make sure you end up with about 800g of prepped veggies at the end. (You could julienne the stems of broccoli and cauliflower then finely chop the florets). Oh and yes, these are great as party food with drinks, especially with cold beers.
MAKES ABOUT 25
300g (2½ cups) besan (chickpea flour)
1½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
2 tsp cumin seeds
1½ tsp turmeric
1½ tsp garam masala
2 tsp salt
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
100g Greek-style yoghurt
4 cups (1 litre) vegetable oil, approximately
1 medium-large potato (about 300g), cut into very fine matchsticks
1 carrot (about 150g), cut into very fine matchsticks
half a large orange sweet potato (about 250g), cut into very fine matchsticks
1 red onion, halved and very finely sliced
lemon wedges, to serve
Mint and coconut chutney
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1½ tsp black mustard seeds
3 large green chillies, chopped
1 very firmly packed cup mint leaves
100g (1 cup) frozen grated coconut, thawed
1 tbsp lemon juice
For the chutney, heat the vegetable oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the mustard seeds and when they start to pop, remove the pan from the heat. Add the mint and chilli, stir until the mint has wilted then the remaining ingredients with 125ml (½ cup) water. Transfer the mixture to a blend or food processor and process until a smooth paste forms. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Preheat the oven to 120 ˚C. Line a large plate with several layers of kitchen paper.
Combine the besan, spices and salt and pepper in a large bowl, then whisk to combine well. In another bowl combine the yoghurt, 2 tbsp of the vegetable oil and 180ml cold water and whisk to mix well. Add to the besan mixture and stir until a smooth, thick batter forms; add a smidge more water if it’s too thick to mix. Add the vegetables, then use your hands to work them through the batter.
Heat the remaining oil in a large saucepan or wok until 160 ˚C, or a cube of bread turns golden in 60 seconds. Using your hands and working in batches, take roughly quarter cupfuls of the vegetable mixture, form into freeform patties, then fry for 7 minutes, turning once, or until deep golden and the vegetables are tender. Transfer to the lined plate then keep warm in the oven while the remaining bhajis cook. Serve with the chutney for dipping and lemon wedges for squeezing over.
Spiced Negroni
A contemporary riff on a cocktail classic. Moksha mingling with Campari and Vermouth, this spicy number is mixed with a pinch of cloves and finished with an orange twist. A fragrant spin on tradition, and an escape from the everyday.
30ml Moksha Spice of India Gin
20ml Campari
20ml Torino Vermouth
5 cloves
Stir over ice and pour over a large ice cube into a short rocks glass with a twist of orange.
