Cooking for Beginners recipes, structured

Chole Bhature

Dark, sour chickpeas cooked with tea, and leavened bread that balloons in hot oil. A weekend project that feeds people properly.

Prep
30m
Cook
1h
Waiting
12h
Total
13h 30m
Serves
6
Effort
Involved
Scale
6
Units

Method

Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.

3 cups Knead a soft dough and leave it somewhere warm for 4 hours 4h 10m The yoghurt sours it slightly as it rises, which is the flavour that separates bhatura from poori. Roll into ovals and fry one at a time, spooning oil over so they puff 12m The oil must be at 190°C. Cooler and the bread absorbs it instead of inflating. Fry the bhature to order and serve straight from the pan with the chole and raw onion 15m They deflate within a minute of leaving the oil. Fry as people sit down, not before.
1/4 cup
1/2 cup
2 tsp
1 tsp
1 tsp
2 tbsp
about 3/4 cup
for deep frying
4 tbsp Cook the onion masala until the oil separates out at the edges 15m Simmer the chickpeas in the masala until the gravy clings to them 25m Crush a ladleful against the side of the pot. That is what thickens it.
2
2 tbsp
3
2 tbsp
1 tbsp
1 tsp
2 tsp
2 tsp
2 cups Pressure cook the soaked chickpeas with a tea bag until they crush between finger and thumb 40m The tea is for colour, not taste. It tans them to that deep brown without any burnt sugar.
2
1
1
5 cups
1 tsp
1
4
1
Read left to right: ingredients merge into steps, and the rightmost cell is the last thing you do. Steps account for 5h 57m of hands-on and cooking time.

  1. Knead a soft dough and leave it somewhere warm for 4 hours

    4h 10m
    • plain flour 3 cups
    • fine semolina 1/4 cup
    • thick yoghurt 1/2 cup
    • caster sugar 2 tsp
    • baking powder 1 tsp
    • salt 1 tsp
    • neutral oil 2 tbsp
    • warm water about 3/4 cup

    The yoghurt sours it slightly as it rises, which is the flavour that separates bhatura from poori.

  2. Roll into ovals and fry one at a time, spooning oil over so they puff

    12m
    • from 1 Knead a soft dough and leave it somewhere warm for 4 hours
    • neutral oil for deep frying

    The oil must be at 190°C. Cooler and the bread absorbs it instead of inflating.

  3. Cook the onion masala until the oil separates out at the edges

    15m
    • neutral oil 4 tbsp
    • onions 2
    • ginger and garlic paste 2 tbsp
    • tomatoes 3
    • chole masala 2 tbsp
    • ground coriander 1 tbsp
    • red chilli powder 1 tsp
    • dried mango powder 2 tsp
    • salt 2 tsp

  4. Pressure cook the soaked chickpeas with a tea bag until they crush between finger and thumb

    40m
    • dried chickpeas 2 cups
    • black tea bags 2
    • bay leaf 1
    • black cardamom 1
    • water 5 cups
    • salt 1 tsp

    The tea is for colour, not taste. It tans them to that deep brown without any burnt sugar.

  5. Simmer the chickpeas in the masala until the gravy clings to them

    25m
    • from 3 Cook the onion masala until the oil separates out at the edges
    • from 4 Pressure cook the soaked chickpeas with a tea bag until they crush between finger and thumb

    Crush a ladleful against the side of the pot. That is what thickens it.

  6. Fry the bhature to order and serve straight from the pan with the chole and raw onion

    15m
    • from 2 Roll into ovals and fry one at a time, spooning oil over so they puff
    • from 5 Simmer the chickpeas in the masala until the gravy clings to them
    • red onion 1
    • green chillies 4
    • lemon 1

    They deflate within a minute of leaving the oil. Fry as people sit down, not before.

Why bhature puff

A rolled disc dropped into 190°C oil sets a skin almost instantly. The water inside the dough then flashes to steam, and with nowhere to go it pushes the top and bottom crusts apart into a balloon. Three things break it — oil that is too cool, dough rolled unevenly, and rolling so thin there is not enough water left to make steam. Baste the top with hot oil the moment it hits the pan and it will inflate within about eight seconds.

Notes

  • Bicarbonate of soda in the soaking water softens the chickpea skins by raising the pH. A pinch is enough; more tastes soapy.
  • Amchur, not lemon. Dried mango gives a duller, deeper sourness that survives simmering.
  • Roll all the bhature before you start frying and keep them under a cloth.

Try butter, 30 minutes, braise, or an ingredient you need to use up.