Suppose you have an Oreo cookie and a chocolate brownie. The Oreo is nice enough, right? Stuffing in the middle, chocolatey biscuit on the outside. But then you have the rich lush gooey, melt-in-your-mouth, sweet-behind-your-ears total yumminess of a good brownie. Can you picture that? (More importantly, can you taste that?)

Now, you might prefer Oreos, or you might be a brownie addict; whichever it is, you will agree that you cannot (and should not) call an Oreo cookie a brownie.

Good. Having got that straight, here's my problem with bhatura. The bhatura recipes that I have result in delicious-tasting stuff, but it is not bhatura. For me, bhatura are thicker and more "doughy" or "spongy" than puri (and in most cases much larger, but that is an externally controllable factor).

The recipe I use however results in a very crisp and brittle end-result. It is not doughy at all, and it bends only a little, so it is not easy to eat chole with it. It tastes very nice, but it is not the delicious full-bodied hotel bhatura that I crave.

I think part of the problem is that I have never actually cooked with a North Indian in the kitchen. I've cooked with lots of Telugu women obviously, some Tamilians and a few Kannadigas, but no-one from the north. I've never first-hand seen the dough, touched it to feel its texture and elasticity so that I can strive to reproduce it.

And then I am using the recipe of a southerner to boot! Most of us know and love the series of small books by Mrs. S. Mallika Badrinath. Most of her recipes are great basic jump-off points for all sorts of South Indian food. I personally use this particular book, "Tiffin Varieties" for many of its other recipes. But its bhatura recipe just does not yield bhatura.

So I am appealing to all of you out there in the blogosphere: please take pity on this poor confused woman, and tell me how to make those delicious spongy bhaturas! I will even do a mini "Bhatura Roundup" if you post them on your blogs; if you've posted a great recipe in the past, post the link to that to me.

This is not an event, it is sheer desperation, but I do want to acknowledge anyone who takes the time to help me out.

Below is the recipe from "Tiffin Varieties" that I am currently using. Try it - it is really very tasty - it should just be called something else!

Bhatura - III
2 heaped cups maida
3 pinches cooking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1.5 tsp oil
- blended together

1/2 cup thick curds
1/4 cup milk
- mixed

Knead liquid into dough. If necessary add more milk.
Keep closed for 2-3 hours