April 21, 2020

CHOLE -- BHATURE

Hello loves, how are you all doing, hope you all are staying at home and are safe. Most of us must be cribbing about staying at home, but trust me we are going to get over this time very soon. we all are together in this and it is the only way we can get over this.

Whole world is going through the same situation, the pandemic. This fight against COVID-19 is considered as world war 3 or more than that. The only way we can win this war is through staying at home.
Utilize this time, do what you were wanting to do from a long time, take care of your mental health, of your body, get a exercise regimen for yourself for which you were not getting time due to work load or study load. Spend time with your family, play games with your family or just do nothing, take some rest which you haven't taken since ages, I guess.

Coming back to today's recipe-- Cholle Bhature. I know it's not one of the very healthy recipe but we are allowed to have cheat meal once a week. So today's recipe is everybody's favorite --- Cholle Bhature.

GET TO KNOW ABOUT THE DISH:--

It is a dish originating from northern India.
Do you have any idea that not only 2nd October is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti but also as international chole Bhature day.
This day was invented in 2013 by a Facebook community named EATLO.
On this day you just need to consume this delicious dish, click a picture of it and post it on the event wall of Facebook.

We will start with preparing the bhaturas first because it requires time to get fermented and the much fermented it will get the much fluffy bhaturas you will get (that doesn't mean you will ferment them for days🙄)
INGREDIENTS:-(Serve-4people)

All purpose flour(maida)--3cups
Semolina(suji)--1cup
Curd--1cup
Baking soda--1tsp.
Cooking oil -- 3tbsp.
Water -- to bind the dough

COOKING STEPS:--

Before starting I would love you to know that we are preparing bhaturas without using any yeast. So let's quickly get started.
Take a mixing bowl ,add all the dry ingredients i.e. all purpose flour, semolina and baking soda. Using a spoon mix them well, then using curd and some water knead the dough.
When you are at the last stage of kneading the dough , add 1-2tablespoon of refined oil and kneed the dough again for 1-2 minutes.
The dough neither needs to be very hard nor very soft. When the dough is ready brush 1teaspoon of oil onto the dough and cover it with a wet cotton cloth and leave it for Atleast 2 hours or maximum 5-6 hour.
After 5to6 hour it will start getting sour.

Let the Bhatura's dough get ferment and till then let's prepare the cholle.

INGREDIENTS (Serve-- 4people)

Chickpeas or chollas--2cups
Tea leaves--1tbsp.
Garam masala powder--1.5tbsp.
Turmeric powder--2tbsp.
Coriander powder-- 2tbsp.
Cumin powder---1/2tbsp.
Red chilli powder--- 1tbsp.
Asafoetida powder---a pinch
Ginger garlic paste---2tbsp.
Ginger juliennes---1inch ginger, chopped into juliennes
Onions--2medim size (finely chopped)
Tomatoes--3medium size( Make pure out of them)
Bay leaves--2
Black cardamom--1
Cinnamon---2inch
Salt---according to taste
Green chilies--2
Cumin seeds---1tbsp.
Dry pomegranate seeds(anardana)--1 tbsp. (roughly crushed)
Dry mango powder(amchur)--1 tbsp. (roughly crushed)
Coriander leaves--handful of them, finely chopped

PROCESS:--

First thing to be noticed is the size of chickpeas. You can find them in 2 sizes one is medium and one is large . We prefer medium sized ones.
So the first step is to soak the chollas or the chickpeas in water for atleast 8-10hours before you make them. Best is to soak it overnight. I personally prefer overnight soaking.
If you have forgotten to soak them, don't stress out, we are here for your help. Read the seventh point for that.
Wash the soaked chickpeas, take a cooker, partly full it with water, add the soaked chickpeas to it and add 1black cardamom, 2bay leaves,1tablesppon of salt and 1inch of cinnamon to the water.
Also add 1tbsp. of tea leaves tied in a cotton cloth to the water. Adding tea leaves will give the chollas a beautiful colour.
Instead of tea leaves tied in a cloth you can also use a tea bag.
Cook the chollas for 5whistles. Switch of the flame but don't rush to the cooker to release it's pressure using a spoon or a knife , let the cooker release it's pressure itself.
If you have forgotten to soak the chollas overnight you can instantly add the washed chollas to cooker add the same ingredients and also add 1tablespoon of baking powder. cook it for 10-12 whistles.
Heat a pan or a kadhai with some cooking oil in it, add 1 teaspoon of asafoetida (hing) to it , add 1tablespoon of cumin seeds to it. Fry them until they are splattering.
Add 2large onion finely chopped to the kadhai, fry them until they get little transparent, then add salt according to taste(keep in mind that we have already put some salt in the chollas while they were cooking in the cooker). Fry them further until they get golden in colour.
Add tomato pure and ginger garlic paste to the kadhai fry it until oil start separating from it, now add the dry masalas to it i.e. 2tablespoon of turmeric powder, 1tablespoon of red chilli powder, 2tablespoon of Coriander powder, 1tablespoon of Cholle masala ,amchur powder and the dry pomegranate seeds. Fry them for another 1second .
Add the chollas to the kadhai and reserve the cholla water we will use it later. Mix them with the masala and using a churn crush some of chollas , it will give thickness to the gravy.
Add the cooker water to the gravy and boil the chollas for 3-5 minutes.
Now we will add a punch i.e. tadka to our chollas.
For that heat a tadka pan, add some oil, add the slit green chillies and ginger juliennes to the pan. Further add 1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder and 1/2 teaspoon of red chilli powder to it .
Pour the tadka mixture onto the cholle. Garnish some ginger Julien and Coriander leaves for serving.
After adding the tadka, cover the lid of the kadhai for 3-4 minutes so that the tadka leave all its flavor. And your Pindi chollas are ready.
Now coming back to our bhaturas they would have get fermented enough till this time.
Pour some oil in a kadhai for deep frying. Let the oil get hot till then let's prepare the Bhaturas.
Take some part of the dough, using a rolling pin, roll the dough into oval or circles. It should neither be too thick or thin.
Check the oil using a little part of the dough, put the dough into the oil, if it came up briskly the oil is at the perfect temperature.
Add the rolled bhaturas to the hot oil, and press gently with a ladle. Fry it from both the sides until it get light brown.
Serve them hot with the chollas and with some pickle and onion on the sides.

Hope you will enjoy this recipe and are enjoying other recipes on our blog too.
Do share the recipes with your friends if you like them and follow us for more such recipes.
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Keep cooking
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