Hot Bhature along with spicy tangy Chole, it’s THE BEST food on the earth. 🙂 The combination of chole masala and deep-fried bhatura makes it an exotic recipe.
What is Chole Bhatura?
For those who don’t know, Chole is chickpea curry where chickpeas are cooked with lots of Indian spices, onion, and tomatoes. Bhatura is a leavened fried bread from the Indian cuisine and is served with Chole. It is one of the most popular Punjabi recipes. They are served together with sliced onions, pickles. You will find the combination of Chole Bhature, which is also known by the name of Chana Bhatura, in many street stalls selling this, especially in Winters. This combination is also very popular among Indian restaurants and Chaat shops all over the world. Sometimes, the venders add Sweet Tamarind Chutney and green chutney in chole, which makes these Chole yummier, and when had with Bhaturas, it’s just heaven. My son is huge fan of Chole Bhatura. He is such fan of this dish that he can consume it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 🙂 Today I am sharing only Bhatura recipe with you all. This recipe is a no-fail recipe. The bhaturas fluffs up like a balloon every single time.
Bhatura
There are many variations of making these crispy and fluffy fried bread. Yeast, baking soda, eno (fruit salt), baking powder are some of the ingredients that are added to leaven the dough. Some people make it using pancakes mix too. In this post I am sharing 2 delicious ways to make bhatura.
- Without yeast, using curd, baking soda and baking powder
- With yeast. Both the recipes taste good. My husband loves the no yeast version but I and my son love the bhaturas made with yeast. I feel the yeast version has a subtle and unique flavor. The no yeast bhatura taste is slightly different than the yeast one.
Ingredient required to make this recipe
Bhatura is always made with all-purpose flour, and not whole wheat flour. You can make bhature with whole wheat flour but then it is called Poori. To make my Bhature a crispy, I also add fine Sooji. I have used curd, baking soda, and baking powder for no yeast method and for yeast method, I have used Instant yeast as the leaving and fermenting agent. Also added a little sugar, as it helps in fastening the fermentation process. For softer bhaturas, I kneaded the dough with milk. You can use water too. Note – Below pic is an overview of the ingredients in the recipe (very handy to use as a visual grocery list at the store). Quantities are mentioned in the recipe card.
How to make this recipe? Step by step process –
In a bowl take flour/maida with semolina/sooji, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and mix really well. Add oil and yogurt. Rub it into the flour mix with your hands. Then add milk, little at a time and knead the dough. Take the dough on working surface and Knead for 10 minutes with your hands until smooth dough is formed. To make work and life easy, use a stand mixer to knead well for 5-6 minutes. Apply little oil in a bowl, place the dough in that bowl, cover it with a damp cloth and then keep in a warm place for at least 1 hour. After 1 hour, divide dough into 5 equal parts. Cover the dough balls again and let it rest for 10 more minutes. Meanwhile heat oil in a kadai/wok on high heat. Oil should be hot, if you drop a piece of dough into the oil it should come up immediately. That’s when the oil is ready to fry the bhatura. Take dough ball, roll dough into 6 inch circle or oval shape, it should neither be too thick nor thin. Carefully, add the rolled bhatura to hot oil and press gently with a ladle, until it starts to puff. Fry both the sides until brown. Transfer to tissue paper to drain oil. Make all the remaining bhaturas same way. Serve hot bhatura with chole, pickle, onions and masala chaas. Enjoy! (Note – Bhature with yeast is shared in recipe card in notes sections)
Notes and pro-tips
You can also make this recipe with whole wheat flour or a mix of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour.Kneading the dough is a really important step. It needs to be kneaded well. I kneaded the dough with a hand for about 8 to 10 minutes. If you have a stand mixer knead the dough for 5 to 6 minutes.Don’t skip the Rawa (Semolina). Rava helps to get a crispy bhature after deep frying. Make sure that you use fine sooji to make these, otherwise, you will not get that perfect texture.I would highly recommend using sour curd or plain yogurt. The sourness would fasten the fermentation process and the dough would be extra soft.It’s very important for the dough to rest for a minimum of 1 hour before frying the bhaturas.If your dough is very soft and you are not able to roll it, lightly dust with dry flour to help with the rolling.Make sure the oil is sufficiently hot when you fry the bhatura. Else the bhatura won’t puff up and absorb a lot of oil.If you are planning to take bhaturas for a party or not going to eat them immediately, keep them covered in an airtight container.For the yeast version – I have used instant yeast. If you are using active dry yeast, first you need to activate the yeast. Take lukewarm water, add sugar and yeast. Mix them once. Cover it and let it sit ten minutes or until the mixture becomes frothy in the warm place. Once it is activated, use it to make the dough.
Can we store the dough or make it ahead of time?
Yes, the dough can be made ahead of time. It stays good up to 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator when stored in an air-tight container. I have never tried freezing the dough though.
What to do with leftover dough?
You can Make pizza, kulcha or naan from the leftover dough.
What is the difference between puri and bhature?
The difference is, Puri is smaller in size, made with atta/whole wheat flour, whereas Bhatura is larger and made with Maida/all-purpose flour. The flour has to be fermented with yeast (or baking soda and baking powder) to make bhaturas whereas puris are made without fermentation.
Can we use Eno instead of baking soda in Bhatura?
Yes, you can use Eno instead of baking soda. In this case, you don’t rest the dough. Make the bhature immediately.
Is it healthy?
No, since it is fried, it’s not healthy. But you can make it healthier by baking the bhature (like Kulcha) in the oven instead of deep-frying it.
More Indian Bread recipes –
Masala puri Paneer kulcha Aloo paratha Do give this recipe a try and let us know how it turned out. You can also FOLLOW me on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, and PINTEREST for more fabulous recipes and updates.
