Amritsari Chole/Chole Bhature

My father worked for the Airport Authority of India and due to which we were always traveling as my father would be posted in different states of India due to his job. One place which has been our second home was New Delhi for about good 4-5 years. We used to visit our father during our summer vacations and spent our wonderful 3 months in this beautiful capital. While our stay in New Delhi we used to go around our various favorite spots to enjoy street side food. New Delhi is a place for foodie who enjoy food or who live to eat. All kind of street food available in New Delhi is to die for, be it Aloo Chaat, Gol Guppe (Pani Puri in Mumbai), Fruit Chaat, Ragda Pattice, Chole Bhature or famous Tandoori Chicken and Roti. There was this place in Sarojini Market back in 90's who used to served the best Chole Bhature that I have come across till date. He used to serve Chole Bhature with onion, pickle (achaar) and pudding chutney.

Let's have look at the recipe for famous Chole Bhature or Amritsari Chole.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Chickpeas soaked overnight
1 Onion Chopped
1 Tomato (puree)
1 tbsp Ginger Garlic paste
3-4 Cloves
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 inch Cinnamon Stick
3-4 Peppercorns
1 Tea Bag ( Will provide a substitute for tea bad in the method below)
1tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tbsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Cumin Powder
1 tbsp Red Chilli Powder
1 tsp Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
1 tbsp Chole Masala/Pav Bhaji Masala
1 tsp Anardaana Powder
1 tsp Aamchur powder (Khataai)
1 tsp Garam Masala
Coriander
Sale to taste
2 tbsp Oil

Method:
Wash and clean the chick peas thoroughly that have been soaked overnight. Take a pressure cooker and add chickpeas to it. Add 1 cup water to the pressure cooker and add below ingredients to it in the above mentioned measure 
Cloves
Bay Leaf
Cinnamon Stick
Peppercorns
Tea Bag [If for any reason you do not have a tea bag, then add 1/2 cup water in a separate pot and add 1 tbsp Tea Powder to it. Let it come to a boil on medium flame. Turn off the flame and strain the tea water in the pressure cooker.
Add Salt to taste

Pressure cook the chickpeas and let them pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. If you need more time to pressure cook based on the cooker you use, then 4-5 should work too.
Let the pressure cooker cool down.
Meanwhile in a separate pot add oil and let it heat on medium flame.
Once the oil is hot enough add Cumin seeds to it. After the cumin seeds splutter add chopped onions to it and with a help of spatula stir the onions.
Let the onions cook until they turn soft. Add ginger garlic paste and give it a good mix.
Once the onions are golden brown add tomato puree to it and mix it well.
Oil will start forming at the edges of the mixture and that would be the time to add spices to the mixture.
Add Coriander powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder, chole masala, cumin powder and Anardana Powder to the mixture and mix well.
Add salt at this point, but remember we have added salt to the chickpeas too while pressure cooking them. So don't be too generous with salt at this stage.
Lower the flame to allow ingredients to cook well.
Carefully check on the pressure cooker and with holding the whistle allow the cooker to release the pressure.
Once the pressure is completely released open the cooker. You will notice the color of the chickpeas has turned dark due to the tea bag/tea water. This is the whole essence of the Amritsari Chole where the color matters.
If required you can remove the whole spices from the chickpeas as well, as some would not like to bite into them while eating.
Also do not forget to remove the Tea Bag :)
With a spatula now add chick peas to the onion tomato mixture slowly and carefully. Do not add too much water from the pressure cooker to the mixture.
We can decide on the consistency once we reach a certain stage. At the point just add the Chickpeas and give it a good mix.
Keep the flame medium and let the ingredients blend in really well for 7-10 minutes with the pot covered.
Remove the lid and add Garam masala and Aamchur powder to the mixture.
Cover the pot for 5-10 mins and then add coriander and serve hot with either Puris or Kulchas.




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