Inspiring vegetarian recipes
Try our vibrant veggie dishes, from meat-free lasagne to vegetable curry and vegetarian chilli
Dishoom's chole bhatura
- Preparation and cooking time
- Total time
- Easy
- Serves 4
Ingredients
Chole bhatura
- 1 x 400g tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 regular tea bag
- vegetable oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 pod cardamon, bruised
- 2cm piece cinnamon stick
- 2 red onions, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 large thumb-sized pieces ginger, finely grated
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 3 (about 200g) tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tsp gram flour
- 1 large potato, peeled, diced and cooked
- 1/2 lime, juiced
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp ground dried pomegranate, optional
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
Bhatura
- 200g plain flour
- 25g wholewheat or chappati flour
- 25g fine semolina
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp fast-action dried yeast
- 75ml semi-skimmed milk
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil, plus extra for deep-frying
To serve
- 1 small red onion, finely diced
- 2cm ginger, finely shredded
- a bunch coriander, finely chopped
- 1 lime, wedged
- fried whole green chillies, to serve optional
Method
- STEP 1
For the bhatura, sieve the plain flour into a large bowl and add the wholewheat flour, semolina, 1 tsp. salt, sugar and the yeast.
- STEP 2
Heat the milk with 100ml water in a small pan until lukewarm, stir in the vegetable oil and gradually add enough liquid to the flour until it resembles a soft but not sticky dough. Knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth, then cover with clingfilm and leave to rest for about 20 minutes.
- STEP 3
Lightly oil a baking sheet and divide the dogs into 10 balls. Roll each bad to a 12cm circle, around 3mm thick.
- STEP 4
Fill a pan with oil to no more than 1/3 full and heat to 180C, or until a piece of bread browns in 30 seconds. Deep-fry each bhatura, one at a time, for 3 minutes, carefully flipping halfway through then draining on kitchen paper. Repeat with the remaining bhatura.
- STEP 5
Put the chickpeas and tea bag in a medium-sized pan and pour over 400-450ml cold water to cover generously. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse.
- STEP 6
Heat a frying pan over a medium heat with 2 tbsp oil and add the bay leaf, cardamom and cinnamon and fry for a few seconds. Add the onions and fry until golden, then add the garlic, ginger and chilli powder and fry for a further 2 minutes. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and tomato purée and fry for 5-10 minutes until the sauce has thickened. Add the gram flour and cook for a minute.
- STEP 7
Discard the tea bag from the chickpeas and add these, along with their cooking liquid and the cooked potato, to the sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes until thickened.
- STEP 8
Stir in the lime juice, garam masala, ground pomegranate (if using), ground cumin and tamarind paste, and simmer for another few minutes, then leave to cool.
- STEP 9
When you’re ready to serve, reheat fully, then scatter with the onion, shredded ginger, and coriander, and serve with lime wedges, fried chillies and bhatura.
