Big mouths needed for Britain's record-breaking onion bhaji

Link : http://uk.news.yahoo.com/041105/323/f620m.html


The worlds largest "Onion Bhajia" is lifted out of boiling oil in West Bromwich


LONDON (AFP) - Fancy a bit of bhaji? You'll need a big bite to put away the biggest fried onion ball in the world, which set a record weighing in at an astounding 84 kilograms (185 pounds), event organisers told AFP.

The big bhaji -- a fried and breaded South Asian snack -- swells to a diametre of 86 centimetres (34 inches), the organisers said.

The cook-off was staged for a "Big Lunch" organised as part of 10th anniversary celebrations for the National Lottery.

Its host, the Guru Nanak Community Centre in West Bromich, in the central region of West Midlands, has received grants to renovate its building from the five billion pounds (7.1 billion euros, 9.2 billion dollars) handed out for charitable causes by the lottery fund over a decade.

The bhaji challenge resumed Friday with a new chef after its postponement on Tuesday, when one of the two lead cooks refused to fry it up, claiming it would be impossible to break the current Guinness World Record.

The world record was previously held by three chefs from the Veena Indian Cuisine Restaurant and Takeaway in West Yorkshire, northern England, who cooked up a 78-centimetre- (31-inch-) round snack weighing in at 59.6 kilograms (131 pounds) in November 1999.