Chole bhature
Local name : छोले भटूरे
Chickpeas simmered in black tea water and sharpened with amchur, served with deep-fried leavened breads.
Photo : Gannu03 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 60 min
- Total
- 90 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Hard
Method
- Cook the drained chickpeas in 1.2 litres of water with the tea bags and salt, covered, for 50 minutes. Remove the bags and keep the liquid.
- For the dough, mix the flour, semolina, yeast, sugar, salt and 180 ml warm water. Knead for 8 minutes, oil the ball and prove for 2 hours.
- Heat the oil in a wide pan, brown the onions for 10 minutes, then add the ginger-garlic paste and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes, chana masala and cumin. Reduce until the oil rises to the surface.
- Add the chickpeas with 400 ml of their cooking liquid. Simmer for 20 minutes, then mash a ladleful to thicken. Stir in the amchur.
- Divide the dough into 8 balls and roll each into a 15 cm disc.
- Fry the bhature at 190 °C, one at a time, spooning hot oil over the top so they puff. Give each side 40 seconds.
- Serve the bhature straight from the pan with the chole and raw onion.
The black tea gives chole their dark brown colour without caramel or dye, a trick from the street vendors of Delhi. Amchur goes in at the end because its sourness fades if it boils for long.
