India · North Indian cuisine of Punjab and Delhi
Chole bhature
A deep, dark, tangy-spiced chickpea curry served with puffed, golden, fluffy deep-fried bread: the legendary North Indian comfort meal, with pickled onion and lemon on the side.
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Editorial selection: recipes cross-checked against several documentary sources. They have not been tested in our kitchen: follow the precautions given and adapt times to your own oven.
Photo: Sutapa Pal · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source · cropped
original Original text, written in English.
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- Servings
- 4
- Preparation
- 30 min
- Cooking
- 80 min
- Resting
- 120 min
- Total
- 230 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
Cuisine / tradition: North Indian cuisine of Punjab and Delhi (IN) — declared by the author
- Main dish
- Breakfast
- Fried
Ingredients
For 4 servings
- 200 g dried chickpeas (kabuli chana), soaked overnight
- 2 piece black tea bags
- 2 tbsp garlic cloves, sliced
- 1 piece bay leaf
- 1 piece cinnamon stick
- 3 piece cloves
- 1 piece star anise
- 2 piece black cardamom pods
- 2 tbsp oil, for the chole masala
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, in julienne
- 1 piece red onion, chopped
- 1 tsp amchur (dried mango powder)
- 1 tsp anardana (dried pomegranate seeds), crushed
- 180 ml tomato purée
- 1 tbsp ground coriander
- 2 tbsp chana masala powder
- 4 piece green chillies, sliced
- 1 tsp salt, or to taste
- 190 g plain flour (maida), sifted
- 80 g fine semolina (suji)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt, for the dough
- 3 tbsp oil, for the dough
- 125 g plain yogurt
- 1 l oil, for deep-frying
- 1 piece red onion, sliced, to serve
- 1 piece lemon, in wedges, to serve
Method
- Step 1. The night before, soak the chickpeas in plenty of water for 8 to 12 hours.
- Step 2. Make the dough: mix the flour, semolina, baking powder, sugar and salt. Rub in the 3 tablespoons of oil, add the yogurt and then enough warm water to knead into a firm, smooth dough. Oil it lightly, cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise for 2 to 3 hours.⏱ 180 min
- Step 3. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Put them in a pressure cooker with the tea bags, the sliced garlic, bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, black cardamom, 1 teaspoon of salt and enough water to cover. Cook for 4 whistles on high, then 15 minutes on medium-low, until very soft, and let the pressure fall. (Without a pressure cooker, simmer in a covered pot for 1 hour 30 to 2 hours.) Discard the tea bags and the whole spices.⏱ 25 min
- Step 4. Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the cumin seeds and the turmeric, then, when they crackle, the ginger for 1 minute. Add the onion and cook for 8 minutes, until golden brown. Add the amchur and the crushed anardana and cook for 2 minutes.⏱ 10 min
- Step 5. Add the tomato purée and cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until the raw smell has gone. Add the coriander, the chana masala and the green chillies and cook for 5 to 6 minutes.⏱ 5 min
- Step 6. Add this masala to the chickpeas, with a little of their cooking water if needed, and simmer on low for 8 minutes. Taste and adjust the salt.⏱ 8 min
- Step 7. Punch down the dough, divide it into 6 to 8 balls and roll each into an oval about 15 cm long. Heat the frying oil to 180 °C. Slide in one bhatura, press the centre gently with a slotted spoon so that it puffs, and fry for about 1 minute on each side until golden. Drain.⏱ 2 min
- Step 8. Serve the chole hot, garnished with ginger, with the hot bhature, the sliced red onion and the lemon wedges.
Story and cultural note
Chole bhature, also known as chana bhatura, pairs a spiced chickpea curry (chole, a tomato-based chana masala) with bhature, a deep-fried leavened bread. In the recipe read, the chole get their dark colour from black tea bags cooked with the chickpeas and their sourness from amchur and anardana, and the bhature are made from refined flour and semolina with yogurt and baking powder, rested for 2 to 3 hours. The dish is a Punjabi classic, and it is eaten with sliced onion, lemon, green chillies and pickle.
Tips for success
Cook the chickpeas until they are very soft, and let the tea bags give the colour: remove them afterwards. Brown the onion well before the tomato. For the bhature, rest the dough for at least 2 hours, and fry in very hot oil, pressing the centre gently so that the bread puffs. Serve at once: bhature deflate as they cool.
Serving and presentation
Serve each person a bowl of chole garnished with fresh ginger and coriander and two hot bhature, with sliced red onion, a lemon wedge, a green chilli and a spoon of pickle.
Diet and allergens
Information declared by the author. CookHuddle does not verify or certify it. If you have an allergy, check the ingredients yourself.
DietVegetarianEgg-freeNut-free
ContainsGluten (cereals)Milk
