Bisi Bele Bath (Mixed vegetable sambar rice)

Bisi Bele Bath is one of the famous Karnataka dish, which is commonly prepared in every home for at least 2 times in a month. 'Bisi Bele Bath'  can be called as 'hot lentil rice' when translated in Kannada. It is a rice based recipe, similar to another famous south Indian recipe   'Sambar rice'. This is a combination of rice, toor dal ,mixed vegetables with tamarind pulp and spicy masala flavors. Its rich flavor,aroma makes everyone addicted to the dish. It can be very easily prepared in a pressure cooker. It is a very healthy dish as it contains toor dal which is a rich source of protein.

Preparation Time : 20 mins

Cooking time : 30-40 mins

Yield : 2

Ingredients :

For Preparing Paste :

Dessicated coconut/dry coconut powder/endukobbari poddi/suska golisi tengina : 1/4 cup

Jeera/cumin seeds/jeerige : 1 tbsp

Fenugreek/menthya/menthulu : 1/2 tsp

Bengal gram/pachi senaga pappu/kadale bele : 1 tbsp

Split black gram/mina pappu/uddhina bele : 1 tbsp

Red chilies/ endu mirapakayallu/ona menasinakayi : 6-7  no.

Coriander seeds/dhaniya /kothambari beeja : 1 tbsp

Elachi/elakulu/yalakki :2

Cinnamon/dalchini chekke/dalchina : 1'' stick

Cloves/lavangalu/lavang : 4-5 no.

Fry all these ingredients separately in little oil and let them cool, then grind them into coarse powder. Soak this powder in 1 cup of  tamarind pulp/chintapandu gujju/ hunse hannu(extracted by soaking tamarind/chintapandu/hunse hannu in hot water for 10min and squeezing  the pulp.) for 10mins. This is how it looks like (see below picture).

[caption id="attachment_105" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Bisi Bele Bath Paste[/caption]

Other Ingredients :

Rice : 1 cup

Toor dal/kandi pappu/togari bele : 1 cup

Carrot pieces : 1/2cup

beans : 1/2 cup

Potato/aloo pieces : 1/2cup

Tomato pieces : 1/2 cup

Ground nuts/peanuts/veru senaga pappu/nelagadali : 1/2 cup

Cashew nuts/jeedipappu/godambi : 1/2 cup

Curry leaves/karivepaku/karibevina soppu : 1/4 cup

coriander leaves/kottambari soppu/kothmira : 1/4 cup

Ghee : 2 tbsp

Salt : to taste

Turmeric powder/haldi/pasupu/arishana pudi : a pinch

Water : 5 1/2 cups

Ingredients for Seasoning :

mustard seeds/avallu/sasive : 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds/jeera/jeerige : 1 tsp

black gram/minapappu/uddhina bele : 1 tsp

Bengal gram/pachi senaga pappu /kadale bele : 1tsp

red chilies/endu mirapakayallu/ona menasina kayi : 3-4 no.

Curry leaves/karivepaku/karibevina soppu : few

oil : 1 tbsp

Water : 5 1/2 cups

Method of Preparation :

1. Wash  rice and toordal/kandi pappu/togari bele and keep aside for 10 mins (rice and dal mixture).


2. Heat 2 tbsp of ghee in a pressure cooker and add cashew/jeedi pappu/godambi and fry them for a minute. Then add rice and dal mixture to it and stir well.


3. Then add all vegetable pieces,turmeric powder/pasupu/arishana pudi , curry leaves/karivepaku/karibevina soppu and coriander leaves/kothimira/kothambari soppu and fry for 2 minutes. Then add groundnuts/verusenaga pappu/nelagadali and fry for 2 more minutes then add water, stir well and cook until 3 vissils on a medium flame.


4. Let the pressure come down and then open the lid and add the paste which we prepared earlier and mix thoroughly and close the lid for 5 minutes.


5. In the mean while for seasoning heat small kadai and add 1 tbsp of oil and add all the seasoning ingredients mentioned above and fry for a minute.


6. Dish out the rice mixture and add seasoning to it on top.


7. Serve  along with raita and papads.

[caption id="attachment_104" align="aligncenter" width="225"]                     Bisi Bele Bath[/caption]