Maharashtrian Khekada Bhajia is onion fritters prepared using thinly slice onions, gram flour and spices. They are called Khekada Bhajia as ‘Khekada’ means crab in Marathi and these bhajia look like crabs, hence the name.
In India, Bhajia and pakoras are a much-loved snack during monsoon or even otherwise with garam garam masala chai. During the monsoon or evenings, one can find long queues in front of the food carts selling variety of tasty, hot, crispy bhajia and pakoras along with chutneys of all sorts. They are cheap and fast. A winning combination. Some of the best bhajia in India are sold on train station platforms. As soon as the train pulls into a station, hordes of ‘bhajia-wallah’ will mount with their various flavours closely followed by the tea vendor or ‘chai-wallah’. Just thinking about it brings a smile on my face! There is a huge variety of bhajia and pakoras in India depending on the region. This Maharashtrian Kekada Bhajia or Kanda (Onion) Bhaji is one of my favourites due to the crisp texture. In Maharashtra it is also served inside a bread roll/bun and called kanda Pav.
The sweetness from the onion with the slight spices and crispy batter just makes these bhajia really scrumptious. These come with a health warning as these bhajias are so addictive that one cannot stop eating. So, I would highly recommend making a big batch as I can assure you that there will be none left.
Lots of people often ask me the difference between bhajia and pakora. Although they belong to the same family of fritters there is just a slight difference that bhajias are usually made with finely chopped vegetables and are slightly crispier whereas pakoras are made with sliced vegetables and has slightly thicker coating of batter making them fluffier. Saying that, anything pretty much fried in Gram flour can be called Pakora or Bhajia, neither is incorrect! So, don’t get into the name- the end result of both is just simply irresistible.
Other recipes you might want to try are Mumbai Vada Pav, Samphire pakora, Vegetable Frankie, Vegetable Cutlets to name a few.
