‘Chole’ Recipe By Varq, Taj Mahal: We Bet You’ve Never Had Chole Bhature This Way

You don’t need to look too far to find a chole bhature shop in Delhi. It is one of capital’s most beloved breakfast items, and even though it seems like a rather simple dish, almost every popular shop tend to have their own USPs. Some make their Bhaturas extra fluffy, some make it soft. Some make their chole spicy, some also serve chutney, aloo sabzi and pickle alongside the chickpea curry. Therefore, when Varq at Taj took up the challenge to recreate our favourite dish in their Old Delhi menu, we were fairly intrigued. Not to sound pompous, we have a million versions of chole Bhature; but the way they reimagined it in their menu is truly something special.  

Here, you don’t have to tear a piece of your bhatura (bread) to dunk into a chickpea gravy cooked in a pool of lush, rustic spices. Here, the chole are soaked overnight, cooked with kasuri methi, chana masala, saunf and ajwain. The chole are then mashed into a very fine paste and shaped as tikkis. Roasted in ghee, these tikkis obtain a texture so soft that they may remind you of your lovely Galouti kebab.  

We fetched the recipe from Varq, Taj Mahal New Delhi. And here’s how it goes.  

Ingredients:

Chickpeas – 150g

Onion – 25g  

Tomato – 25g  

Coriander Powder – 5g  

Red Chilli Powder – 5g  

Garam Masala – 5g  

Jeera Powder – 5g  

Chana Masala – 5g  

Slit Green Chilli – 1  

Julienned Ginger – 2g  

Roasted Chana Powder – 50g  

Ajwain – 2g  

Fennel – 2g  

Salt – 2g  

Oil – 15ml

Method:

1. Take the chickpeas and soak them overnight.

2. Now in a pan, dd oil, ajwain, fennel and sauté well.

3. Throw in some kasuri methi, chana masala and salt

4. Now in the same pan add the soaked chickpeas, some water and bring to a boil.

5. Once thick, set aside and allow it to cool.

6. Once it is cool, blend to a fine paste

7. Now add roasted chana powder to this paste, and mix further, make sure you do not dry up the paste too much.  

8. With the help of your hand, shape tikkis and cook in ghee on medium flame.

9. Carefully pan sear tikkis with a little oil on a flat tawa.  

10. Now, make mini bhaturas with a fermented batter of water, flour, sooji and yeast.  

11. Take a plate, add a dash of avocado mint chutney (even regular mint-coriander chutney is fine. Place the chole tikkis, top it off with tomato garlic chutney and bhatura.  

12. Add some vinegar-dipped onions for the final touch. Serve hot.