Chole Bhature

Chole bhature is a spiced chickpea curry served with pillowy, deep-fried leavened bread. It is a hearty breakfast and brunch in Punjab and Delhi, also common at lunch, and heavy enough that it is rarely eaten as a quick weekday meal.

What it really is

Chickpeas, soaked overnight and boiled until fully soft, are simmered in a dark, tangy onion-tomato base built on a heavy hand with garam masala, dried mango powder and black cardamom, which give the curry a distinctive sourish depth rather than the richer, creamier profile of many other North Indian curries. Alongside it, a leavened dough made mostly from white wheat flour (maida) with yogurt, sometimes with a little semolina, is rolled thick and deep-fried until it puffs into a large, soft, blistered bread — the bhature — noticeably bigger and chewier than a poori.

The bread is characteristically large and puffed. Size varies by restaurant, but a bhature the size of a poori is undersized; the dish is built around tearing a piece of bread to scoop a substantial curry, not nibbling at a small one.

How it is served

• The chole in a bowl, the bhature whole or torn beside it.
• With pickled onion, green chilli and a wedge of lemon on the side.
• As a filling breakfast, brunch or lunch, rarely as a light course.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the gluten and dairy in the bhature dough; the yogurt dough described here contains milk, but yogurt-free doughs exist.
• Say how large the bread is, since portion expectations vary and one bhature is often a full serving on its own.
• It is naturally vegetarian; note if a lighter, non-fried bread substitute is available for guests who ask.

Nutrition values are given per 100 g of curry and bread together.