Chole bhature ( Puffed Indian bread served with garbanzo beans)

Bhature is nothing but this gigantic puffed bread that is usually served with Chana masala or Chole. The dough for this bread is made by kneading flour with yogurt, adding a little baking soda and letting it ferment for a while. After fermentation, portions of the dough are rolled out into a big poori which is then deep fried. There is absolutely NOTHING healthy about this very popular snack/ breakfast but it is delicious and once in a while if you indulge, it's ok. 

When you go to restaurants, they serve you this humongous puffed up single bhature with Chole that has been garnished with finely chopped onions, cilantro and lemon wedge on the side. Yummy! You just cannot eat more than one! It is rather hard to replicate the huge restaurant- size bhatura at home as you would need to use a huge wok and lots of oil! It would be a crime to waste all that oil after frying only a few bhaturas! I therefore have made smaller bhaturas but the taste is the same restaurant style. It is pretty easy to make too and a joy to eat!
I was looking for a good bhature recipe for the longest and I found it here.

For the Chole or Chana masala recipe kindly go here.

Servings: makes 4-6 medium sized bhaturas

Ingredients:

All purpose flour ( maida): 1cup
Cream of wheat ( semolina): 4 tbsp
Yogurt: 4 tbsp
Cooking oil: 1 tbsp
Baking soda: a pinch
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Sugar: 1/2 tsp
Lukewarm water: 1/2 cup
Oil for frying

Method:

Mix the flour and sooji in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and add to it yogurt, oil, sugar, salt and baking soda. Mix then all together to make a soft dough.

Now using a little lukewarm water at a time knead the dough well to get a really nice soft consistency. Do not attempt to add all the water at once. Bhature is like bread; kneading is the key. When done, apply some oil on the outside of the flour, cover with a damp cloth/ paper towel and leave it to ferment for atleast 2 hours.

After fermentation, take the dough, knead it again well. Pinch big lemon size dough and roll it into a circle that is atleast 0.25 cms thick. Don't roll it too thin as it will not puff up.

Heat oil in a wok/kadai . Once the oil is hot enough, reduce the flame and drop the bhatura.

 Using the back of the slotted spoon slightly press the poori down. This helps it puff.

Turn it over once it puffs up and floats to the surface of the oil.Fry on the other side until the bhatura is light golden brown in color.

Drain it on paper towels.

Serve hot with Chole/ Chana masala. If not served hot, it will lose it's puffiness!

Enjoy! I am bringing these yummy bhature to Angie and the girls to go with the Chole I took there yesterday! Aunt Juju@cooking with auntJuju and Tina@Mademoiselle Gourmande are co-hosting this week.

Cooking made easy:

You can make the bhature dough the previous night, cover it with a wet cloth and leave it overnight. Next morning, the dough will be ready to be rolled and fried.

Tip for healthy living:

If it is hard for one to eat healthy all the time, maintain a food intake diary and balance between the unhealthy and healthy in a given day.

Food for thought:

You can't sweep other people off their feet, if you can't be swept off your own. Clarence Day.