
Ingredients
For Chole
- 1 cups regular chickpeas- soaked overnight, drained, rinsed.
- 1 tbsp coriander powder/dhania powder
- 1tsp red chilli powder/lalmirch powder
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder/haldi
- 1 tspchole masala powder or garam masala powder
- 1 tsp dry mango powder/amchur powder
- a pinch of asafoetida/hing (optional)
- black salt or rock salt as required
- 2 cups water to be added later
wholegaram masala/spices
- 1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera
- 1 large indian bay leaf/tejpatta
- 2 inch cinnamon/dal chini
- 2-3 cloves/lavang
- 2 green cardamom/chotielachi
- 2 black peppercorn
Ground paste ingredients
- 1 medium size onion, chopped
- 2 medium size tomatoes, chopped
- ½ inch ginger/adrak, chopped
- 34 garlic cloves/lahsun, chopped
For Bhatura
- 2 cups, Refined flour/ Maida
- 1 tbsp Semolina/ sooji
- 4 tbsp Curd/ yogurt
- 1 tbsp Oil
- Salt to taste
- ½ tsp Sugar
- ¼ tsp Baking powder
- Water to knead into a dough
- Oil – for deep frying
Process
For Chole
- Pressure cook, the soaked chole for 4-5 whistles, cool and strain.
- Heat oil in a pan or kadai fry the whole garam masala/spices mentioned above till the oil becomes fragrant. Add the ground paste and saute till the oil starts to leaves the sides of the paste.
- Keep on stiring, so that the paste does not stick to the pan.
- Add all the dry spice powders turmeric, red chili powder, coriander and dry mango powder stir and saute for a minute. Add the cooked chole, water, salt and stir.
- Simmer on a low or medium flame for 1215 minutes till the curry thickens. Stir occasionally.
- Add slit green chilies and garam masala powder or chole masala. stir and simmer for a minute or two.
- Serve chole hot with onion slices, lemon wedges along with bhatura.
For Bhature
- Mix all the mentioned ingredients to make a soft dough. The dough should not be too hard or too soft on touch.
- Cover with a wet cloth and keep aside for at least 3 to 4 hrs.
- Portion the dough into small balls and roll into thick round shaped rotis. It shold not be too thick or too thin.
- Heat enough oil for deep frying in a heavy bottomed vessel. Once the oil is hot, reduce flame to medium high.
- Now slide the batura into the hot oil. Using the back of the ladle, immerse completely in oil you will find it will puff. Flip over and fry the other side till light golden brown. Remove on to absorbant paper.
- Serve hot with chole.
This recipe works beautifully. I used the Bhature portion of this post, because I make Chhole with different masal proportions as I learnt from my landlady, Lamba aunty.
To make the Bhaturas, no yeast is really needed. I forgot to add baking powder, and since I was short on oil I added ghee to the atta, but still the Bhaturas came out very similar to my mother’s. Two pointers I would like to add: If you are adding ghee to the atta for making bhatures, then ensure that the Dahi is at room temperature. If the Dahi is cold, then the ghee congeals and the dough does not come together as a smooth pliant ball.