Chickpea curry dates back to the
cuisine of the Mughal Empire, possibly having spread along the empire's trade routes. Chole bhature's place of origin is debated. According to
BBC News's
Justin Rowlatt, the dish originated in
Punjabi cuisine, despite claims from other regions such as
Uttar Pradesh,
Rajasthan and
Himachal Pradesh. Food writer
Kunal Vijaykar believes it originated in
pre-partition Punjab and was based on the dish , which is named for the city of
Rawalpindi, Pakistani Punjab. However, according to food scholar
Charis Galanakis, it originated in eastern Uttar Pradesh. was one of the first establishments in Delhi to serve chole bhature.
(Pictured: franchise location in Kolkata) Chole bhature spread to Delhi in the 1940s, Some consider Lamba to be the first to have paired with bhature. It is also widely believed that the dish was introduced to the city by Sita Ram, Beginning around the 1990s, the dish spread beyond North India to the rest of the country, becoming a typical dish at vegetarian establishments by the 2010s. It and other Punjabi dishes—such as and —became popular in
Indian fast food, alongside the more popular
South Indian cuisine. As the dish gained popularity outside of India, Chole bhature is often said to be the origin of the
Indo-Trinidadian dish
doubles, especially in the view of Indians, though this is disputed. This hypothesis notes the similarity between chole bhature, when served as a
wrap, and doubles. However, many people consider doubles to have uniquely originated in Trinidad and Tobago. Badru Deen, a member of the family credited with the invention of doubles, wrote that the two dishes are very different; sociologist N. Jayaram supports this opinion. == Popularity ==