Bengali Onion Rings – Gol Piyanji
This is one of favorite recipes for anytime snacking. I cannot believe that I do not have this on my site. Just because I have it in my cookbook does not count. And to correct this, I am posting this recipe here. It needs to be posted here. So here is my recipe for Bengali Onion Rings or what I call Gol Pijanji. And in the name of recipe testing, I have eaten at least 20 of these today to ensure that I consistently reached that super crisp texture. Expect that I always eat a lot of these whenever I make them. But can you blame me? They are soo good!
The Story of Bengali Onion Rings
And well, I have them all sliced up and stuff so that we can all enjoy them tomorrow. That my friends is the extent of my connection with the Superbowl. I do not understand much. However, I use it as an excuse or all things snackable. And for some reason my husband suggested that I try to air fry these. Now seriously?? There is a place for air-frying, and it is not with these crisp and seriously addictive onion rings. No way! Another fun recipe with onions and kale are these onion and kale fritters
The rings have a few simple spices and I have done a video on the overall technique. With this post and the video you should have absolutely no reason not to get this going for you. And honestly, this is just perfect for anytime snacking. All you needs is a large onion, chickpea and rice flour. The spices just use them as a guide and play with them as you see fit.
A few tips and tricks
In order to ensure a very crisp shell and batter you need a few things to watch,
- Test the oil and make sure that it is hot.
- Cook on uniform medium high temperature
- Do not skip the rice flour in the batter.
- Serve them hot.
And it does not matter if your team wins or not, these onion rings are always a winner.
How to Enjoy these Bengali Onion Rings
All things fried on the Indian table usually need chutney. When there is no chutney we use ketchup (true story!). However these onion rings are also good with something like a burger, such as these turkey hoisin burgers that we love.
An easy to make and absolutely addictive take on onion rings.
Ingredients
- 1 large, sweet Vidalia or 2 medium onions, tops removed and peeled
- 3.4 cup chickpea flour or besan
- 2 tablespoons rice flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon red cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon nigella needs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Water to mix
- Oil for frying
Instructions
- Cut the onions into circles about 1/4 inch in thickness and separate the layers.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the chickpea flour, rice flour and the cornstarch.
- Stir in the turmeric, red cayenne pepper, nigella seeds and salt and mix well
- Add in about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup water (enough to make a nice batter) this should be a little thinner than pancake batter.
- Heat the oil to smoking hot. Test with a little batter, the batter should rise and float right away.
- Dip the onion rings one at a time in the batter, using a fork to coat and shake of excess batter.
- Place 2 or 3 rings into the oil depending on the size of the onion and the skillet. Allow them to cook for about 2 minutes on one side and turn. The batter cooks quickly, so you need to be careful not to burn the rings.
- Drain on paper towels and serve hot.