Ingredients:

• For chole:
• 250g – garbanzo beans or Chickpeas
• 2 – tea bags
• 2 – cardamom, green and black, small pieces
• Cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tbsp shahi Jeera seeds/cumin
• 1 Clove – Garlic (increase if you like more Garlic)
• 1 small piece – Ginger (finely slit)
• 2 diced – Tomatoes
• 1 – onion, finely diced
• 1-2 – Cloves
• 1 – Mace
• 1-2 – Bay Leaves
• 1/2 tsp – Sugar
• For masala: 2 – Tomatoes
• 2-3 Cloves – Garlic
• A small piece of Ginger
• 1 Onion
• 1/2 tsp – saunf/fennel seeds
• A small piece of dry crushed bread
• 1/2 cup Curd
• Seasoning: 2-3 tbsp – chilli powder (reduce if you want it less spicy)
• 1/2 tbsp – Turmeric powder
• 1.5 tbsp – cumin/jeera powder
• 1 tbsp – saunf/fennel powder
• 2 tbsp – coriander powder
• 1 tbsp – amchur/mango powder (optional)
• 1 tbsp – anardana/pomegranate powder (optional)
• For bhature:
• 3 cups – Refined flour (maida)
• 5 tbsp – semolina (rava)
• Baking powder- 2 tbsp
• 1 cup – Curd (thick)
• 1/2 cup – warm water
• Oil – For deep frying
• Salt – according to taste
• For garnish:
• Coriander – finely chopped
• Spring onions – finely chopped (optional)
• Curd/cream – to swirl on Chole
• Accompaniments: Raita
• Pickled Green chilli or slit raw chilli
• Shallots soaked in Vinegar
• Green chutney

Method:

1. For masala:
2. Add all the ingredients in the blender and grind to make a fine paste.
3. For chole:
4. Soak the garbanzo beans (chole) for at least eight hours or overnight.
5. When the beans are swollen and easy to break into half, pressure cook them till they are soft and easy to mash.
6. While pressure cooking the beans, add the tea bags, black salt, and green cardamom to get the beautiful tea stain on the beans.
7. In a heavy bottom wok or kadai, temper jeera seeds, mace, bay leaf, and black cardamom followed by ginger, garlic, and sliced onion.
8. Caramelize the onion by adding the sugar.
9. Once golden brown, add the diced tomatoes and cook till well mashed.
10. Add the masala paste and all the seasoning ingredients and let it cook for about a minute till you get the aroma of all the spices.
11. In a blender, add half of the beans and run till they are coarsely ground and not a fine paste.
12. Add the remaining beans and the mashed beans to the masala and stir till the spices are well incorporated in the beans.
13. Add the water and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
14. Once the oil layer is formed on the top, your chole is just about ready.
15. For bhature:
16. Sieve together maida, semolina, baking powder, and salt to remove any clumps.
17. Make a well and add the curd and oil.
18. Gradually bring the flour together and work toward kneading it into a dough.
19. Keep adding warm water to bring together the flour.
20. Knead the mixture well to form a dough and let it set for 15 to 20 minutes.
21. Cover it with a damp kitchen towel and leave it in a warm place.
22. After 15 to 20 minutes remove the dough and knead it well on an oiled surface to remove the air and make a clean, soft springy dough.
23. Let the dough sit for another 2 hours or you could leave it overnight.
24. Make small balls and roll them flat with a rolling pin.
25. You could use any round vessel with sharp surface to cut out perfect round bhaturas or just go with your rolling skills.
26. In a skillet, add the oil for deep frying.
27. The oil should be hot in order to have your bhaturas fluff well, else you might end up having bhaturas oozing oil and not cooked well.
28. Prepare bhaturas only when you are about to serve.
29. If the oil is hot enough, it will be fast and easy to have well-cooked bhaturas.
30. Serve hot with chole.
31. Swirl a spoon of fresh cream or ghee on your chole, if you’d like.
32. This dish is complete with the accompaniments mentioned, especially the pickled green chillies and vinegar-soaked shallot.

Recipe courtesy of Sify Bawarchi