Recipe Chole Bhature

      In English, Chole Bhature is called Chickpea Curry with Fried Flatbreads. Traditionally, this dish is made with fried bread called Bhatura, topped with spicy chickpeas (chole).

Chana Bhatura has taken me to many restaurants in mumbai and Delhi. Each restaurant or dhaba (roadside eatery) has its own style and taste of the chickpea curry. At one place the curry is spicy, while at another it is mildly spiced.

Chickpea curry pairs well with poori, Naan, Kulcha, and Aloo Kulcha as well as aloo paratha. It also tastes good with bread or pav.

Bhature Recipe

• firstly, in a large mixing bowl take maida.
• to that add rava, sugar and salt.
• also add baking powder and baking soda and mix well.
• furthermore, add oil and rub with the flour.
• also add curd and start to knead dough.
• knead and punch the dough well for atleast 5 minutes.
• further, grease the dough with oil.
• cover with moist cloth and rest for atleast 2 hours.
• further, roll and get to a long shape. pinch the dough into medium sized balls.
• then make balls between your palms.
• finally, roll the dough evenly into circles using rolling pin. roll neither too thin nor thick.
• firstly, heat oil in a deep frying pan or kadai. when the oil is sufficiently hot, add one bhature,with the spoon to puff up.
• also once they begin to puff, splash oil over the bhature till they puff completely.
• flip over and fry the bhatura till golden brown all over, 
• then drain the poori into tissue paper to remove excess oil. fry all batura same way.

     Chole Recipe:

1) Wash the chickpeas under running cold water until water runs clear. Or rinse them 2-3 times until the water is not cloudy anymore. 

2) Then soak in enough water (2-3 inches above) for 8 hours or overnight. After the soaking time, you can see they have double up in size. Discard the soaking water.

3) To make fresh spice powder, take whole spices (bay leaves, black cardamoms, cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon stick) in a small pan and dry roast on low-medium heat for 2 minutes or until aromatic.

4) Remove it to a plate and let it cool down. Then grind into a fine powder using a spice grinder.

5) Now chop onion, tomato, ginger, garlic and green chilies. 

6) Then make a smooth puree using the blender.

7) Heat the oil in a pressure cooker on medium heat. Once hot add cumin seeds and let them sizzle a bit.

8) Then add the prepared onion-tomato puree and a little salt. Let it cook. It will splutter a lot so you can partially cover it. It avoids some mess around the stove. Coon until it becomes a thick paste and oil starts to ooze out from the masala.

9) Then add remaining salt, turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, anardana powder and above-prepared spice powder.

10) Mix well and cook for a minute.

11) Then add soaked chana. 

12) Add water, cover the cooker with a lid.

13) Cook on medium heat for 20-25 minutes. (if using instant pot, then cook on manual for 20 minutes). Let the pressure go down by itself and then open the lid.

14) Stir with a spatula. Check the chana, it should be cooked and soft, but not mushy. Check the gravy consistency. If gravy is thin and watery, then let it simmer for a few minutes. If it gravy is too thick. add some more water and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Mine was perfect for me. So I have not added any extra water.

15) Now add amchur powder and mix.

16) Lastly, garnish the chole with chopped cilantro and serve.