Onion Zhunkas or is it Kanda Zunka?

Call it by any name, this is one seemingly simple but very tasty Maharashtrian dish. And if you are not from Maharashtra, I am sure you haven't tasted it. Oh! Why did i write seemingly simple, well it is not as simple as it sound, though it is prepared with the least of ingredients and is very quick to cook. And, how I love Quickies!!
It takes some experience to cook the perfect Zhunka, I guess. When that colleague told me the recipe, I thought i could do it in a ziffy, the first attempt ended in a semi burnt Zhunka, the second in a semi cooked one. This was almost perfect, but then I added crushed peanuts, and it soaked up all the oil. This was tastty nevertheless.

Oh! But other Zhunkas like Capsicum Zhunka, Tindla Zhunkas that I had blogged earlier are much easier to prepare. Somehow they turned out perfect in the first try, but not this authentic onion Zhunka.

Ingredients:
3-4 Onions finely Chopped.
1 tbs Mustard seed
Vegetable Oil
Besan or Chick Pea Flour

Steps:

Heat 2 TBS of oil in a pan.
Sputter some mustard seeds and Add the onions.
Fry till onions start to get limp.
Add Oil, lower heat to minimum and add 2 cups of Besan.

Now this is the difficult part.
You have to sprinkle the besan slowly and keep stirring/sauteing.
Otherwise the besan will form small lumps, which is not advisable.
HEY!!! I guess a Sieve would be great Idea.
Now you have to keep stirring till the besan won't smell raw.
it should take about 5 minutes of continuous before the zhunka can be served.
Little Water can be sprinkled while sauteing.

I added crushed peanut.
Don't add.
It is better without than with :-)
Enjoy!!

I will be hosting the next week's Weekend Herb Blogging, originally started by Kalyn. Send me you entries by sunday next week at anthonysmirror[at]Gmail[dot]com. You have blog about a Herb, rare herbs and informative posts are much welcome but any post on any herb should do.

Dig for Herbs and start thinking!!!!