Cheese fritters with red onion

Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, with lots of herbs and seasonings to balance the oozy cheese.

Ingredients

60 g butter
270 g water
150 g whole wheat flour
3 large eggs
1 small red onion finely chopped
2 large handfuls fresh basil roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic crushed
2 heaped teaspoons Dijon mustard
30 g 'Parmesan' finely grated
100 g melty cheese I used a Spanish sheep cheese, cubed
1 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
lots of freshly ground black pepper
1 litre frying oil I used sunflower

Instructions

Using the first four ingredients, make the choux pastry base. I used a Thermomix to make mine (very easy!), following this method. For a very detailed explanation of how to make this without a machine, check out Delia Smith's guide here.
Stir the rest of the ingredients into the pastry base, mixing well.
Heat your oven to 150c to keep the fritters warm as you work in batches. Heat the frying oil in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan to 180c. It is very important to heat the oil to the correct temperature, otherwise the food will absorb excess oil (read more about this here). Drop heaped tablespoons of pastry mixture into the oil, being careful not to splash yourself. Any larger than this and the pastry in the middle will still be raw. It is not supposed to set completely, but should not be too liquid in the centre. Fry three at a time - any more and the temperature of the oil will drop detrimentally - until very well browned (about 5 minutes). Drain on paper towels and keep hot in the oven. Repeat until all the mixture is used up.
Serve immediately with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

Notes

You may wish to reduce the amount of red onion a little if you're not a huge fan, as it doesn't really have time to cook inside the fritter, so will remain fairly raw. Just something to consider.
You can reuse the oil 3-4 times for deep frying - allow to cool, then strain and return to the bottle.