Chole-Bhature

Chole-Bhature is one of the tasty, mouth-watering, spicy and a very popular Punjabi dish. This dish is very filling and has all the essentials of a great brunch. However, this can be eaten as an evening snack, lunch or dinner as well. This is my husband's favorite weekend brunch. Chole and Bhature are made for each other. The crispy puffed Bhatura makes an excellent combo with hot and spicy Chole. So without wasting any time, lets learn the quick recipe of this tasty dish with "Flavors of Sneha's Kitchen".



Ingredients:

For Chole:
1 cup chana/white chickpeas (soaked in water overnight)
4 tbsp of oil

Chole-Bhature

1 tsp of cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
2 whole dried red chilli
Pinch of asafoetida
2 onions finely chopped
1 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tsp of coriander powder
1 1/2 tbsp of chole masala powder
1/2 tsp of red chilli powder
1 tsp of garam masala powder
1 medium tomato finely chopped
1 green chilli
Salt as per taste
2 cups of water or as required

For Bhature:
2 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour (maida)
1 cup of yogurt
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
Pinch of baking soda
2 tsp of sugar
1 tsp of salt
Oil for deep frying
Water as required



Method:

• To make chole, heat oil in a pressure cooker. Once hot enough, add the cumin seeds, bay leaves, dried red chill and asafoetida. Saute till it crackles.
• Now add the chopped onion and fry until it gets golden brown.
• Add the ginger-garlic paste and fry for a minute. In between add the broken green chilli also.
• Now add the turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder and salt. Cook it for another minute.
• Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till tomatoes get soft.
• Add the chole masala powder and garam masala powder. Cover and cook until the oil starts appearing from the corners.
• Now add the soaked chole and water. Mix well and pressure cook for 6-7 whistles or till the chana is cooked tender.
• Serve hot and garnish with slices of onion and lemon wedge.
• To make bhature, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt and yogurt in a big bowl and give it a good mix.
• Now add little water at a time and make a dough. The dough should not be too hard or too soft on touch.
• Now rub little oil on the dough all over and cover with a wet cloth. Let it rest for half and hour.
• Make medium sized ball and keep it aside for 10 mints. Make sure the balls have no holes otherwise the bhature will not puffed up very well.
• Now roll these balls into round shaped rotis. It should not be too thick or too thin.
• Heat oil in a thick vessel and then put it on medium flame. Slide the bhature slowly and keep pressing the centre and edges and it will puff slowly. Now flip over and fry until it gets golden brown. Take it out on an absorbent paper. 
• Serve hot with the spicy and tasty chole and enjoy.

Note: Adding the green chilli gives a very good taste to chole but ofcourse makes it spicy too. So instead of using the regular red chilli powder you may use the kashmiri red chilli powder which makes this dish medium spicy and gives a great color too. And here, one of my secret tip; if you have MDH chicken curry powder use this instead of using chole masala powder and I'm sure you will never go wrong with this dish.