Chole Bhature from Delhi

Delhi is one of the union territories of India and is also known as nation capital territory of India. Delhi is in North India surrounded by the states of Haryana on the north, west and south, and Uttar Pradesh in the east. Delhi includes New Delhi and near by cities of Sonipet, Gurgaon, Nodia, Greater Nodia, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and few more nearby towns. Delhi is hence known as city of cities. Delhi has its own legislature, high court and executive council of ministers headed by the chief Minister. Delhi has always been the capital of many empires in the past. In 1639 AD, Mughal king Shah Jahan built a city Shahjajanabad which served as the capital for the Mughal rulers and today it is Old Delhi. In 1911 British wanted to move the capital from Kolkata to Delhi and built a new administrative center which is New Delhi. Since then New Delhi has been the capital of the nation and continued to be the capital even after Independence. Yamunua river, the largest tributary of rive Ganges flows throw Delhi.

Cuisine of Delhi is influenced by the Mughals and it is the birthplace of Mughalai cuisine. Delhi is known for its street food. Chandni Chowk is foodies’ paradise with a huge variety of street food. Streets are lined with sweet vendors, savory vendors, chaat vendors and different varieties of stuffed flat breads. Paranthne Wali Gali (fried bread street) in Chandni Chowk is known for its stuffed paranthas. Apart from the mughalai and street food, Delhi cuisine is also influenced by Punjabi cuisine. Some of the classic dishes are Butter Chicken, Chole Bhature, Aloo Chaat, Dahi Vada, Kulfi and Jalebis.

Today your virtual treat from the union territory of Delhi is Chole Bhature. It is one of the street foods in the city is the Punjabi influence on Delhi cuisine. Chole is a spicy chickpeas curry served with bhature, deep fried flat bread. I usually make poori at home, older sister of bhature and usually serve it with chicken or tomato shorva. Even if I make chole or chana masala, shorva win hands down. For a change, this time I made only chole and bhature. Bhature turned out pretty good and the chole turned out pretty good. U said it tastes different than what I usually make and even tastes good.

The key ingredient in that gives chole the distinct taste the chole masala. I use to buy the masala until 2-3 years ago until I tried this recipe. Ever since, it was bye bye to store bought chole masala and hello to homemade chole masala. She also has a chole recipe but I always made it my way, added this masala. She claims that her chole tastes just like the chole sold on the Delhi streets. And the credit to that dark brown color of the chole goes to the chole masala.

Total Time: 50 – 65 minutes
Preparation: 15 - 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 – 45 minutes
Serves: 2
Yields: 8-10 Bhature depending on the size

Bhature
Ingredients:

• 2 cups or 300 grams All Purpose Flour ~ Maida
• ⅛ tsp. or a pinch of Baking Soda
• ½ tsp. Salt
• Oil
• 9 - 10 tbsp. or 1 cup (approx.) Yogurt

Preparation:

• Mix together the dry ingredients. Add oil and mix it. Lastly add yogurt, knead to make the dough. Do not use any water. Add more yogurt if required. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest in a warm place for 3-4 hours. I put the oven, cold oven for 5 hours.
• Heat oil in a deep frying pan to deep fry the bhature.
• Knead the dough once and divide the dough into 8-10 balls. Apply a few drops of oil to the dough or the rolling surface and roll the dough into a bhatura, just like a puri. Bhatura can be round or oblong in shape. Also, once the bhatura is lifted off the surface, it will shrink in size, which is fine. Roll out all the dough balls.
• Once the oil is hot, deep fry one bhatura at a time. Deep fry the bhature for few seconds on each side. Lightly dip the bhatura in oil using a slotted spoon or thongs, for a fluffy bhatura. Once the bhatura is fried on one side, turn it over and do the same on the other side.
• Remove from oil drain on paper towels.
• Serve hot with Chole.

Making Chole
Chole Masala Powder
Source: Mad Tea Party
Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ - 1 ½ tbsp. Coriander Seeds (I wanted to use ⅔ tbsp. but miscalculated when scaling down the recipe and used more than required)
• 1 tsp. Anardana or Pomegranate Seeds (opt. I did not use it)
• ⅓ " Cinnamon Stick
• 1-2 Cloves (I used 2 cloves)
• 1 Badi Elaichi or Black Cardamom (if you don't have black cardamom, use 2 green cardamoms.)
• ⅓ tsp. Black Peppercorns or approximately 40-42 Black Peppercorns
• 1 ⅓ t Cumin Seeds (I wanted to use ⅔ tsp. but miscalculated when scaling down the recipe and used more than required)
• ⅓ – ½ Bay Leaves
• ½ Red Dry Chili

Preparation:

• Dry roast all the ingredients on medium flame until spices are dark brown in color. Let the spices cool and grind to a fine powder. This yields about 2 ½ - 3 tbsp. of chole masala.

Notes:

• As I mentioned in the chole masala ingredient list, I miscalculated coriander and cumin quantities and used more than required. Despite that the taste was good.

Chole
Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry Chickpeas or 2 cups cooked Chickpeas
• 2 tbsp. Oil
• ½ medium – large Onion or ⅔ cups chopped Onion
• 1 tbsp. Ginger Garlic
• ½ large Tomato or ⅓ cup chopped Tomato (I used vine ripe tomato but any variety can be used)
• 2 tsp. Salt
• ¾ tsp. Chili Powder
• 2 ½ - 3 tbsp. Chole Masala

Garnish

• 3 -4 small Green Chilies are as required to taste (this is for garnish)
• Sliced Onions
• Lime~Lemon Slices or Juice
• Cilantro chopped

Preparation:

• Cooking Chickpeas - If using dry chickpeas, wash and soak the chickpeas over night or at least 6-7 hours.
• After soaking, pressure cook the chickpeas with 2 cups of water for 5 -6 whistles or until the chickpeas are cooked. I usually cook for 6 whistles in my prestige cooker, however for chole or chana masala I cook for 5 whistles as the chickpeas will be cooked again along with the spices.
• Cooking Chole - Take oil in a sauce pan and fry chopped onions until light brown.
• Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute or until raw the raw smell is gone.
• Add tomatoes, salt and cook until tomatoes are soft and mushy. Reduce the flame and fry until oil begins to separate and tomatoes and finely roasted. Keep stirring the onion tomato mixture from burning. Sautéing onions and tomatoes takes about 15 minutes.
• Add green chilies (the ones listed under garnish), chili powder, chole masala, garam masala if using and mix properly. Continue to fry for a minute or two until green chilies are lightly roasted.
• Remove the chilies and keep aside for garnishing.
• Add cooked chickpeas and mix well. Add 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Adjust water to required consistency. I used 1 cup reserved water after cooking the chickpeas and 1 cup regular water. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes or until the chole is done.
• Serve chole with hot bhature, sliced onions, fried green chilies that we kept aside and some lime/lemon slices.

Notes:

• I used 3-4 green chilies but adjust according to your preference. I liked chewing the chilies with chole.
• As I mentioned in the chole masala ingredient list, I miscalculated coriander and cumin quantities and used more than required. Despite that the taste was good.
• I usually cook dry chickpeas in large quantities and freeze it in Ziploc bags. Frozen cooked chickpeas or canned chickpeas can be used for this recipe. I usually do not prefer canned chickpeas but if one is used to canned ones, they can use it to reduce to the cooking time.

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