Chole Bhature is one of the tempting and flavourful dishes from the Punjabi Cuisine. ‘Chole Bhature’ is a Hindi phrase, and in that ‘Chole’ is a spicy and tangy chickpea curry and the fried flatbreads are called bhature/bhatura. The combination of both is known as ‘Chole Bhature’.
This dish is one of the most eaten breakfast/snacks in the Northern part of India. Every single thought about this dish makes me nostalgic and takes me through the memory lane. Whenever I go to India, the first dish I eat is Chole Bhature.
Chole Bhatura evokes lot of amazing memories in my mind. My college in India was near a popular place called Bengali Market in Delhi. My friends, Rasneet and Vasu and I would often (at least twice a week) walk to Bengali Market to eat chole bhature at Nathu’s. In those days there was no air conditioning at Nathu’s and we would sit under the fans, in 40C heat eating chole bhature in a full service restaurant sweating like mad. Many a times we had to queue in the heat, but it was worth the wait. The bhature were crisp on the outside, soft inside and had a satisfying doughy taste. And when you break off a piece of bhatura and scoop up the chole with it … that’s when the real magic happens! Some onion and pickle with it and you are in heaven!
Now that I live in the UK, my friend Ruchika often has a chola Bhatura party. I am the official ‘Bhatura’ person as she makes the chola and I make the Bhatura. There is something nostalgic about coming together and cooking. The dish Chola Bhatura is synonymous to friends for me. It just revokes lots of memories of the past, present and I am sure we will continue to make special memories in the future too!
This is an adapted recipe of my bhabie’s (sister-in-law) recipe for those days when you have time to make dough and keep it for an hour or so.
I call this recipe my ‘holiday bhatura’ recipe as I need more planning and organisation compared to my instant Bhatura recipe.
Other popular Indian Breads worth trying at home are Plain Naan, Mint and Sesame Lachha Paratha, Vegetable Mughlai Paratha, Aloo Paratha, Moong Dal Paratha to name few.
