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Chole Bhature
Dark chickpea curry with balloon-puffed flatbread
👨🍳 Pro🍛 Main Course🥛 Vegetarian🕓 690 min
Delhi's Sunday breakfast: nearly black chickpeas and a bread that puffs into a balloon in hot oil. Each half is manageable on its own; both at once is a whole morning.
👨🍳 Pro: Fermenting, deep-frying or layering. Needs time, patience and a quiet afternoon.
Prep600 min
Cook time90 min
Total690 min
ServesServes 4, with 8 bhature
Contains:
GlutenMilkSulphites
Refers to the recipe as written here. Store-bought ingredients may carry traces — please check the packet.
Ingredients
0 of 14✅ All set to cook!
Method
0 of 7🎉 All done — enjoy!
- Drain the chickpeas, set on with 1.2 l fresh water, salt, and the tea bags, and cook 45-55 minutes until soft. It is the tea that gives them their dark color. Remove the tea bags, keep the cooking water.
- For the dough, knead maida, semolina, yogurt, sugar, baking powder, salt, and 2 tbsp oil with lukewarm water into a soft, supple dough — 8 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm spot for 2-3 hours.
- Heat oil, fry the onions 12 minutes until deep golden brown, then the ginger-garlic paste for 2 minutes.
- Add the tomato puree and chole masala, cook 12 minutes until the oil separates out.
- Add the chickpeas with 400 ml of their cooking water, simmer uncovered 25 minutes. Crush a ladleful of chickpeas and return them to the pot. Stir in the amchur and anardana.
- Divide the dough into 8 balls and roll each into an oval, 4-5 mm thick. Not too thin — thin bhature will not puff.
- Heat oil to 190°C. Slide in one flatbread and immediately press it gently just under the surface with a slotted spoon for 10 seconds. It will balloon up. Flip, 20 seconds until golden brown, and remove.
Tips
- The point of no return is the oil temperature for the bhatura. Too cool, and it soaks up oil and never puffs — no balloon after that, just a greasy flatbread.
- The brief submerging with the slotted spoon is the actual trick: it forces the steam to collect in the center.
- Bhature do not wait. Fry them once everyone is at the table, and cook them one at a time.
- Cook the chole the day before. They get better overnight, and then on Sunday there is only the bread left to make.
Shop the Ingredients
Everything for this recipe is available from us in Munich — in store or delivered.
