Bisi Bele Bath(Rice cooked with lentils and vegetables)

Monsoons are here and all we need is warm food, food that talks of comfort, food that talks about stories, food that reminds us of the warmth of mother’s love, food that reminds us of simplicity, food that bonds us.

“You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food.” -Paul Prudhomme

As good food bonds broken hearts, unites two souls. Food is the only religion which bonds nations for the love of food is greatest of all loves.

Bisi bele bath is one such simple and humble food which needs no introduction for this is the food that speaks to your heart with every morsel you eat, it soothes your pain adds joy to your life and transcends you to the world of happiness.

Bisi bele bhath translated as hot lentil rice dish, is a spicy rice-based dish with its roots from Karnataka. This is a recipe which is present in every mother’s cookbook. The traditional bisi bele bath is a lengthy process, where in the bisi bele bath powder, the main ingredient of this dish is also prepared in the home, as an alternate you could also use MTR bisi bele bath powder, which tastes equally good.

This bisi bele bath is not your easy one pot meal recipe, firstly the rice and lentils have to be soaked and cooked together or seperately. Vegetables chopped and boiled seperately and then all these three ingredients to be cooked together with some tamarind paste, jaggery, bisi bele bath powder and tempered with ghee.

Though the process is tedious, every morsel satisfies your soul. Just pair it with some home made potato and beetroot chips and you would not have a count of number of servings you have had. This bisi bele bath is your best companion for the monsoon nights.

Type: Indian

Category: Main Course

Serves 3 – 4

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For rice and lentils:

1. 1 Cup rice
2. 2 tbspn peanuts
3. 1/3 cup toor dal
4. 2 1/4 cup water for cooking rice
5. 1 – 1 1/2 cup water for cooking dal(adjust it accordingly)

Vegetables and others:

1. 1 tbspn oil
2. 1 onion
3. 1 tomato
4. 1/2 potato
5. 1/2 carrot
6. 1/2 capsicum
7. 1/4 cup peas
8. 1/4 cup beans
9. 1 1/2 tbspn tamarind paste(soak tamarind in hot water and crush with your hands till you get paste consistency)
10. 1 1/2 tspn jaggery
11. 1 tspn turmeric powder
12. 1 tspn red chilli powder
13. 1 tspn corainder powder
14. 3 tbspn bisi bele bath powder
15. 1 cup water
16. Salt to taste

Tempering:

1. 1 tbspn ghee
2. 1/2 tspn mustard and cumin seeds
3. 2-3 dried red chillies
4. 1 sprig of curry leaves
5. 5-6 cashews

Method:

1. Start by pressure cooking the rice along with peanuts and dal seperately and cook till soft.
2. In the mean time chop all the vegetables and boil potato, carrots,capsicum,beans and peas.
3. In a big pan, add oil and once it is hot add the onions and stir for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the boiled vegatables to the pan along with tomato.
5. Stir it for 1-2 minutes, add the tamarind paste, jaggery and salt and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.
6. Smash the boiled dal and add it to the vegetables mixture.
7. Add the cooked rice to the above vegetable and dal mixture.
8. Stir and add all the masala’s (turmeric, chilli powder and coriander powder) and give a quick stir.
9. Add 3 tbspn of bisi bele bath powder to the above rice mixture.
10. Add 1 cup water and let the entire mixture of rice, lentils and vegetables cook for a good 15-20 minutes. Add more water if the rice is getting dried.
11. Prepare tempering, by adding a tablsepoon of ghee in a small pan, once it is hot add mustard and cumin seeds, curry leaves, dried red chillies and cashewnuts once they release a nice aroma and turn light brown, switch off the heat and add the tempering to the bisi bele bath rice.
12. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with khara boondi, papad or chips.

Notes:

1. Rice and dal can be cooked together in the same pressure cooker as well, in this process along with the rice dal is also smashed. Both the process yeild the same flavors with texture being different.
2. The choice of vegetables is purely based on perosnal preference.
3. Bisi bele bath is a key ingredient along with tamarind pulp and jaggery.

Cheers,

Roopa