Bengali Style Tempura Celeriac, Chillies and Onions for Nibbles and Snacks

Served Al fresco with a tipple
Lovely snacks to nibble
Onion wedges I prefer over bhajis any day!
Crisp and fragrant
Celeriac
Aromatic and melt in the mouth inside that crispy batter
A few chillies thrown in
Mildest chillies I ever tasted
Better this way than in a curry as no real heat!

Ok I know we are a nation of onion bhaji lovers and don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind a few if I must but I just find them stodgy.
Ok hold back them daggers, it aint my particular cup of tea…and I love Tea!

Give me these boras/tempura alternatives anytime!
I’ve made chilli, celeriac as I love the flavour and texture and onion as I love the taste!

These are far more flavoursome. The taste of the vegetables are not lost in the heavy batter. I don’t use gram flour/besan. Its way too heavy! These tempura boras are light, crispy and quick to fry!

I kept the batter simple.
When the celeriac was done I added 1 tsp of dried methi leaves to the onion batter.
It smells divine when frying.
You really taste the main star ingredient and its embellished by that golden casing!

My way of enjoying a few drinks is with these!
The chillis were really the most mild I’ve had in long while so I threw them in too! Just pierced them to avoid them exploding.
They were yummy between celeriac and onion.

The remaining boras were eaten with Rice and Dal.

A great way to enjoy veg!

INGREDIENTS:

For the Batter:
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp salt
1 cup self raising flour
1 tbsp chilli flakes
Water

METHOD:

Add all the dry ingredients into a bowl.
Mix well then add cold water to the batter and stir. Add it slowly. I needed about 3/4 cup of water.

Turmeric and chilli flakes
Self raising flour
1 cup was enough for all the above
Mixed well with salt
Add water slowly

Batter should leave ribbons.

You don’t need to let batter stand as raising agent activates immediately with water.

Veg Prep:

Peel and cut the celeriac into 1 cm thick slices and score the chiliesboth sides.

Score both sides
1 cm thick

Pierce chilies

Pierce once


Cut onion into wedges. I cut a large Onion into 10 wedges.

Large onion cut into wedges
10 wedges

In a non stick pan add some oil to shallow fry. Heat the oil on medium flame and test by dropping a little batter. It should float bubbling at the sides.

Veg oil
Drop test
Bubbles and floats perfect

First dip the celeriac into the batter, cover well, remove the excess and add to the pan.

Reduce heat and add as many as you can with room to turn.
Leave them till you can see the edges are crisp and bubbling and firm.

Fry till crisp on lower side

Now turn over. Keep the temp med to low.
Use the tip of a knife to check if the batter gets crispy. Cook low and slow. This will give you a crispy finish.

Turn and crisp

Keep turning to get good colour and good crispyness. When your knife tip goes right through the celeriac but the batter is crispy and sounds solid and looks golden its cooked.

Remove with slotted spoon. Sprinkle with pinch of salt.

Remove to plate
Sprinkle with salt

Now add a tsp of dried Kasuri methi to the batter and fry the onions in the same way.

Onions go next
Turned

Dip in batter and fry the chillies amongst the onions.

Chillies go in

Make sure the batter is crispy and a lovely burnished golden colour.

When cooked again sprinkle with pinch salt.
This tends to keep them crispy.

Done
Sprinkle of salt

Serve the scrumptious tempura/boras with your favourite dip.

Sup your drink and enjoy the crunch!

Courgette flowers
Manzano chilli

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