My cholé bhaturé recipe is a mouthwatering restaurant-style dish of Indian chickpeas served with a puffy, golden whole wheat bread.
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What is cholé bhaturé?
Cholé Bhature, also called chana bhatura on Indian restaurant menus, is a north Indian street food that combines two divinely delicious dishes: spicy, tangy chana masala or cholé, and a fried wheat bread called bhatura (plural = bhaturé).
When I lived in India, this was one of the foods I loved to order when I ate out, especially at Kamat's, a vegetarian fast-food restaurant in south Mumbai. It was an unpretentious little place next door to the iconic Sterling cinema, then a single-screen theater that always played Hollywood movies. The matter-of-fact servers at Kamat's rarely smiled and the tables had modest steel tops that were easy to clean, but there were so many delicious dishes on the menu, including idli, dosa, ragda pattice and vegetable korma. The cholé bhaturé was simply irresistible. When the piping hot food arrived at the table, it was bliss to poke a hole in the balloony bhatura and watch it deflate before tearing off a piece, dunking it into the chana and scooping it all into my mouth. Yum!
A bhatura, if you've never eaten one before, is not unlike a puri, another, perhaps better known, Indian bread. But while puri is made with whole wheat flour, bhatura is made with maida, a refined Indian wheat flour. The dough also includes yogurt, which makes the bhatura crisper and flakier, and a bhatura is larger than a puri.
For my homemade cholé bhaturé, I make the bhatura whole-wheat, like a puri, with no loss of flavor or texture. Instead of dairy yogurt, I use my homemade cultured vegan yogurt, which works just as well.
This is an extremely kid-friendly recipe because no kid can resist a bhatura. It's soy-free and nut-free, and - despite the deep-fried bread - it's a rather healthy recipe because of the whole grains and beans. I've included my recipe for cholé here, but you can also just use my chana masala recipe for the chana or, for a variation, try this pindi cholé. Make sure you use a good chana masala powder like this homemade spice blend.
Recipe card
Cholé Bhaturé (Chana Bhatura) Recipe
Ingredients
For cholé or chana
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
- 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1 large red onion (finely diced)
- 1 heaping tsp ginger garlic paste
- 3 medium tomatoes (pureed, or 1 cup canned tomato puree)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ teaspoon cayenne (or any red chili powder. If you are using my homemade chana masala powder, keep in mind that it already includes red chili peppers and adjust the heat accordingly)
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 3 cups canned or cooked chickpeas (from two 14 oz cans, or soak 1 cup dried chickpeas overnight, then cook until tender. Strain out all liquid from the chickpeas)
- 1 heaping tbsp chana masala powder
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons cilantro (or wedges of lemon, optional)
For bhatura
- 2 cups whole wheat flour (atta)
- ¼ cup sooji (rava or semolina)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or any neutral oil
- ¼ cup vegan yogurt
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
Make the bhatura dough
- Place all the ingredients - flour, sooji, salt, oil and vegan yogurt - in a large bowl. Use your fingers to mix the oil and yogurt into the flour until it looks grainy.
- Slowly drizzle in the water, a little at a time, and mix until a dough forms. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes, then cover the bowl with a tight lid and set aside for an hour to two hours. The dough should be firm, not sticky or soft. It will become more pliable after it has rested.
Make cholé (while the bhatura dough is resting)
- Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the cumin seeds and bay leaves.
- When the cumin sizzles, add the onions with some salt and cook until the onions become translucent and the edges start to brown. Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté for a minute.
- Add the tomato puree followed by turmeric, cayenne and ground coriander. Mix well and cook the puree until it turns a couple of shades darker.
- Add the chickpeas along with the chana masala powder followed by 2 cups of water. Mix well.
- Bring to a boil, turn heat to low, cover and simmer the chana for 8-10 minutes so the flavors meld together. Use a potato masher or the back of the ladle to mash some of the chickpeas and thicken the sauce. If you want saucier cholé, add more water. Turn off heat and garnish with cilantro or wedges of lemon before serving.
Make bhatura
- Knead the rested dough for a few seconds - it should feel much more pliable by now. Divide the dough into eight equal portions and roll each into a ball. Dust one ball with flour.
- Use a rolling pin to roll the ball of dough into a circle about six inches in diameter. Roll out the dough as evenly as you can, without any thick or thin spots. Repeat for remaining seven portions.
- Heat oil for frying in a kadhai or wok or pan large enough to hold the bhatura. When the oil is hot enough that a small piece of dough dropped into it sizzles and rises to the surface immediately (around 360 degrees F or 182 degrees C), place a bhatura into the pan. Use a spatula to gently press the bhatura down as it puffs up and rises in the bubbling oil -- this will ensure it cooks evenly. The bhatura should balloon as it rises.
- When the bubbling subsides, flip the bhatura and fry another 30 seconds.
- Remove the bhatura to a colander lined with paper towels. Serve the bhaturas with the cholé right away.
Notes
- Nutrition information estimates a total of ¼th cup oil absorbed by bhaturas during deep frying. Try and maintain oil temperature between 350 degrees and 375 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees to 190 degrees Celsius).
Nutrition Information
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Cholé Bhaturé FAQs
Cholé or chana masala tastes best when made with chana masala powder. If you can't source it or make your own, you can use garam masala powder but also add a teaspoon of amchur or dried mango powder or the juice of one lemon to the chana.
Serve the cholé bhaturé with wedges of lemon or onions on the side. If I am serving this for lunch or dinner I like adding a simple side, like potato masala.
In India, this dish is eaten most often as a snack, although it makes a filling and wholesome lunch or dinner.
Yes, just make sure it's unsweetened.
Yes. Sooji, used in Indian recipes like upma, sooji halwa and rava idli, makes the bhatura crispier and causes the dough to absorb less oil. But you can skip it if you want to.
None. Just proceed as you would with the whole wheat flour.
Recipe first published Oct. 14, 2008. Updated and re-published on Nov. 2, 2025.
Catherine Michell says
Could I start with 1 1/2 cups of your Basic Tomato Onion Sauce (which I happen to have in my freezer!) and just add the masala spice mix to it?
Vaishali Honawar says
Yes! You can also check out my instant chana masala recipe made with the onion tomato sauce.