Vegetable Bhajis - Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

2 large carrots

10cm piece of fresh root ginger

2 medium red onions

2-3 fresh red chillies

Large bunch of coriander

2tsps mustard seeds

1 tsp turmeric

1 heaped tsp cumin seeds

2 tsps sea salt

125g self-raising flour

1 litre vegetable oil

Juice of 1 lemon

2 limes

To prepare the bhajis:

- Peel and finely grate or shred the carrots, ginger and red onions and put them in a large bowl (if you have a food processor, this is where it comes in handy!)

- Finely chop the chillies and add to the bowl

- Roughly chop the coriander leaves and stalks and add to the bowl

- Add the mustard seeds, turmeric, cumin seeds and salt to the bowl

- Add the flour and 125ml of cold water and scrunch together well, using your hands, until you have a nice thick mixture.

To cook your bhajis:

- You either need a deep fat fryer or put a large pan on the hob and add the oil. Once the oil is up to temperature (you can test by putting a piece of bread in, when the bread sizzles you're good to go!)

- Using 1tbp of the mixture, press it together tightly and then lower into the hot oil.

- Repeat until you have several on the go.

- Cook for 5 minutes until crispy and golden then remove with a slotted spoon and put them on kitchen paper to drain.

- Sprinkle with salt and lemon

- Continue until all the mixture has been used.

To serve your bhajis:

Cut the limes into wedges and serve them on a big platter or plate with your bhajis.

These are absolutely fantastic and I seriously couldn't believe just how easy they were to make. And you can trust me because I'm totally clueless in the kitchen department. Believe me if I can do it then anyone can do it.

The sense of satisfaction was so great that I don't know that I'll ever buy them again!

(PS - I know the picture is the wrong way round but Blogger doesn't seem to upload it the right way round. After the 5th time of trying I've just given up!)