Bhajji

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A savoury South Asian snack of sliced vegetables dipped in spiced chickpea flour batter and deep fried until crisp
2. A crisp, golden fritter from Indian cuisine made by coating vegetable slices in seasoned gram flour and frying them
3. A small battered and fried vegetable piece, often served as a street food or appetiser with chutney

Etymology: "Bhajji" is an alternative spelling of "bhaji," a fried snack of vegetables coated in spiced gram flour (chickpea batter). The word comes from Hindi "bhājī," which means "fried vegetables," and it reached English through the South Asian communities whose cooking it describes. In Hindi, "bhājī" is a general word for cooked vegetable dishes, so the English sense of a fried fritter is a narrowing: the Hindi term covers far more than the crisp, battered pieces that British and other English-speaking diners know. The double consonant in "bhajji" is simply a second spelling of the same word, not a different word or a separate origin. Both forms trace back to the same Hindi source, and the choice between them is one of transliteration. Readers may see "bhaji" more often in menus and dictionaries, but "bhajji" is equally valid.