Delicious and tasty North Indian Punjabi Chole Bhature Recipe. Chole accompanied with Bhautra is a satisfying authentic tasting meal which is relished by everyone. Garbanzo beans, chickpeas is a great source of protein and is very low in calories and rich in fiber.
Boiled Chickpeas are sauteed with onion- tomatoes and flavored with strong and warming flavors of spices to create this North Indian delicacy. It’s a delicious and super-easy brunch.
Chole Bhature recipe is explained in three easy steps. First starts with boiling of chana with whole spices and garlic which are later discarded. Secondly, roasting all the dry spices (which are always ready in my pantry) and later grounding them to their powdered form gives a nice, toasty depth to the spices. Last assembling boiled chole with these roasted spices and onion-tomato adds more authentic level of flavor to the final dish.
FEW SUBSTITUTE –
- Pomegranate seeds can be substituted with tamarind paste or lemon juice to achieve the similar flavor profile.
- If you prefer garlic in your chole then skip adding garlic while boiling. Add chopped garlic and saute along with onion-ginger mixture.
- Chopped amla can be substituted with a amla powder. Amla powder is their in the recipe to add more darker color. Skipping it all together will not harm the recipe.
- Tanginess and acidity from the tomatoes can be balanced by adding sugar to the recipe. I had skipped this part because everything was perfect.
- Adding chopped cilantro was the nice final touch that shouldn’t be skipped! It adds more flavor.
HOMEMADE CHANA MASALA – Whole spices can be used instead of grounded ones. Toast them on a low flame till they start omitting their aroma and when cooled ground them to their powdered form and add to chole.
Enjoy this recipe with our favorite wheat bhaturas, pickled onions and pickled Chilies. Bon Appetit!! 🙂
Chole Bhature Recipe
INGREDIENTS
BOILING CHOLE
- 2 cups Chickpea (Safed Chole)
- 1 no. Tea bag
- 2-3 pieces of Bay leaves (Tej patta)
- 3 cloves of Garlic
- 3 pods of Black Cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
- Salt to taste
- Water to Boil the chole
CHOLE MASALA
- 1 tablespoon Pomegranate seeds powder (or whole seeds)
- 1 tablespoon Coriander powder (sukha dhaniya) (or whole seeds)
- 1 tablespoon Roasted cumin seeds (or regular cumin seeds)
- 1 teaspoon Chopped Amla pieces (or amla powder)
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper powder
- 1 tablespoon Kala namak (Black salt)
- 1 teaspoon Red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon Powder (or cinnamon sticks)
ASSEMBLING CHOLE INGREDIENTS
- 1 medium Onion,chopped
- 1 medium Tomato, chopped
- 1 tablespoon Chopped Ginger
- 2 tablespoon Chopped cilantro leaves
- 1 tablespoon Sugar (optional)
- 2 tablespoon Oil
PICKLED CHILIES
- 2-3 nos. Big Green Chilies
- 2 teaspoon Grounded mustard seeds
- Salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon Oil
INSTRUCTIONS
BOILING CHOLE
- A night before- clean, wash and soak chole overnight.
- Soaked chole all puffed up.
- Assemble: all the ingredients needed to boil chole.
- Drain soaked chole water and wash it under clean tap water.
- Add chole to a pressure cooker and add all the ingredients one by one.
- Pressure cook for nearly 20 minutes or until chole are soft and tender.
- Keep it aside.
- I prefer to discard boiled whole spices, mushy garlic and tea bags from the boiled chole.
CHOLE MASALA
- Assemble: all the chana masala ingredients.
- Leave these four out - black salt, red chili powder, cinnamon powder and roasted cumin seeds....
- Transfer all the spices to a pan and on a low flame dry roast all of the spices till they start omitting their aroma. Be careful not to burn the spices. Keep them aside.
ASSEMBLING CHOLE
- Final step is to assemble the chole.
- In a kadhai heat oil, add onions, ginger and saute for 2 minutes on a medium flame. Mix in chopped tomatoes, salt and mix till they are fully blended.
- Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes till tomatoes are soft and tender.
- They will look like this - all mushy.
- Mix in the roasted dry spices and the left out 4 dry spices - black salt, red chili powder, cinnamon powder and roasted cumin seeds....
- And give it a good mix.
- Add 1/4 cup water and bring it to a boil.
- As the oil starts to separate..
- Mix in boiled chole...
- And cook for another 4-5 minutes on a medium flame.
- Bring it to a boil, add chopped cilantro leaves and mix..
- Delicious and mildly flavored chole are ready.
PICKLED CHILIES
- Clean and wash green chilies.
- Slit them lengthwise.
- In a pan heat oil, add powdered mustard seeds, salt and green chilies.
- Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes on a medium low flame. Enjoy!!
Liked to visit your website as it gives knowledge to make dificult dishes very easily.Again excellent dish to make tried it tastes really amazing .
keep posting excellent dishes like this which makes even a layman to try it.
Thanks for sharing your experience with me. Glad you liked the recipe. Keep visiting back for more 🙂
I tried your chole bhatura recipe and it was a hit. Made it over the weekend as a rakhi special for my brothers and they loved it. My mom too was amazed at my culinary skills. Thanks Ruchi, BTW I am in 12th standard and I was the cooking queen of my house.
Even I am amazed at your hard work. Kudos to you Gudiya, your brothers are blessed to have a loving sister like you. 🙂 Thanks for trying out the recipe and I am so glad to hear that you all liked the recipe.
In the recipe of chola bhatura u haven’t mentioned bhbhatura’s recipe.
Thanks for stopping by Rosy! Chole recipe itself was too long that I couldn’t fit in bhatura recipe in the same post. If you are looking for bhatura recipe, here is the link – http://www.ruchiskitchen.com/recipe/wheat-bhatura-recipe/
1. Can I use canned chickpea instead ?
2. If I do not have a pressure cooker boiling it in normal will do ?
3. How much water is needed to when boiling the chickpea ? Just to enough to cover the chickpea will do ?
4. What sort of tea bag are used ? As in any specific sort of tea ?
5. After the chickpea is boiled do we need to drain it out of the water that it was boiled in ?
6. Will using normal salt make it taste any different instead of using black salt ?
Thanks for stopping by June. Below are the answers to all your queries –
1. Yes, you can use canned chickpeas. It will reduce your cooking time.
2. Boiling it without a pressure cooker will take hours to cook. Canned chickpeas will work just fine.
3. If boiling the chickpeas, add enough water to cover the chickpeas.
4. I have used a regular teabag.
5. Save the water in which chickpeas were boiled. Do not drain it. It will later be added to the recipe and form a thick gravy.
6. You can use regular salt instead of black salt.
Hope that answers all your questions. Feel free to contact me if you have any other queries related to this recipe.
VERY NICE AND GREAT RECIPE. It seems like a tasty and delicious dish :
Thank you, Tripti!
Hi! I’m making this today. Wish me luck.
Good luck and I am sure you will like the recipe.
I really love this recipe. Thank you for sharing.
My pleasure. 😊
Thanks, Guys, your recipe was too incredible. My Family and I loved it. I will definitely try more and share your recipe with my friends.
Thank you, Hema!
So glad you liked the recipe. 😊
Can you use the onion masala paste in this recepie?
Sure, you can!
Has been using this recipe from 5 years now.
So easy and perfect flavours.
And have been forwarding it to everyone.
Thank you!
My pleasure. 🙂
Thank you 🙏🏼
Boil chickpeas in 4 cups of water. To make it thick, remove the excess water from the chickpeas and cook as directed.
They will turn out thick. If the chickpeas become too thick use this excess water to match the consistency you like.
Dear Ruchi,
Would you advise about how much water to boil the chickpeas in?
I’ve made this a few times (always delicious) but mine never ends up thick like yours. I think I may be boiling the chick peas in too much water therefore there’s not a high enough concentration of aquafaba. Thank you.
Thank you so much for your kind words Mrs, G. Means a lot!
Oops, my bad.
Going forward will include garnishes too in my recipes. 🙂