Bhatura

A bhatura is like the best dream this world has to offer.

Warm, fluffy, crisp outside, and a chewy bready inside. Bhature are one of the best things to ever come out of Punjab. Everyone loves a big plate of chole bhature, and for good cause, if you ask me! That said, it along with most Punjabi dishes, is often absolutely butchered to bits! I can’t tell you how many recipes or pictures I’ve seen online and thought, “What on earth am I looking at?! That is NOT a bhatura” followed by an expletive or two. They’re quite easy to make, if you have the right recipe – but try and tell a blogger that their recipe sucks…am I right?

Bhature pretty easy to make if you follow a good recipe. There’s no huge secret or process to it. The only caution I would give you is to not over work the dough when rolling it out. You want the dough to be light and airy so that your bhatura is fluffy and not dense. What I traditionally do is, I work the balls of dough with the palm of my hand before rolling it out. I find that helps to shape it and break up some of the elasticity. But, I also lack the patience to spend minutes on end rolling the dough with a rolling pan. At this point, I’ve normally spent several hours making chole and I’m ready to dig in and sit down.

I can’t think of a time in Punjab, growing up, or when I go back and visit, that I’ve said, “Nope, I’m over bhature chole.” They’re effin phenomenal! It’s not a meal you need to eat at a fancy restaurant, in fact, I dare say they’re SIGNIFICANTLY better at hole in he wall joints. Growing up there were a couple favorite brunch meals – Aloo Puri or Chole Bhature. Aloo Puri, start to finish was made at home, had with a big glass of lassi, and followed by a long food coma. Chole bhature meant we got to go out to our favorite corner shop. It was glorious! Waking up at the crack of 10 am, piling into the car by noon, and off to eat. It was an excuse to putz around the main street in town, see all of the other kids from school, and then inevitably disappear with your friends instead of pretending to do anything at home. So clearly, we liked chole bhature day waaay better! Every time I go back to India the first thing I do in Delhi is to go shopping in Karol Bagh and eat bhature chole at Om Corner, promptly followed by a kulfi from Roshan di Kulfi – but obviously after shopping. Fitting into anything after that meal is not a possibility. And yes, yes, all the snooty Indians are smirking to themselves about just how low brow that seems, but honestly, screw you. There’s a time and a place to say, yes, I can afford a $15,000 Sabyasachi lengha and a time to say I like to eat at the corner shop that’s been in the same family for the last 150 years. And for those that don’t know the difference, ew!

Looking for more bready joy? Try these:

Bhatura

Course: Bread, SidesCuisine: PunjabiDifficulty: Easy

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

40

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Proofing Time

60

minutes

Total time

50

minutes

Cook Mode

Keep the screen of your device on

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup water, room temperature

• 1 1/2 tsp sugar

• 2 tsp instant yeast

• 2 cups all purpose flour

• 2 tbsp whole milk yogurt

• 1 tbsp ghee

• 2 tsp salt

• Flour for dusting

• Oil for frying

Equipment/Specialty Items

• KitchenAid Rolling PinKitchenAid Rolling Pin

Directions

• Dough:
• In a small bowl, combine water, sugar, and yeast. Set aside for 10 minutes or until it starts to froth.
• In your stand mixer bowl or large bowl, combine yeast water, flour, yogurt, ghee, and salt.
• If using a stand mixer, mix on slow speed for 2 minutes. Then increase to medium speed for 8-10 minutes or longer if needed till the dough is smooth and elastic.
• If kneading by hand knead for approximately 20 minutes till your dough is smooth and elastic.
• Cover the dough with a towel and set aside till it’s doubled in size. Approximately 1 hour.
• Rolling and Frying:
• In a large pot pour in enough oil to cover the bottom 3-4 inches of the pot.
• Heat oil till it’s lightly smoking.
• Divide the dough into 8 equal parts.
• Roll each portion into a smooth ball.
• Roll each portion into a circle approximately 1/8-inch thick.
• Fry one bhatura at a time.
• Using your metal frying spoon, gently work the dough to puff up the bhatura.
• Once it’s puffed up turn it over and cook the other side until golden brown.
• Flip over again if the first side needs to be browned more.
• Repeat steps 7-9 with remaining bhature.
• Serve:
• Serve immediately.

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