Bisi bele bath is a delicious complete and healthy meal of rice, lentils and vegetables. It is one of the most popular traditional dish from the Karnataka cuisine.
Bisi bele bath is so popular that you get it so easily in the South Indian restaurants in bangalore.
To Make Bisi Bele Bath
Making bisi bele bath recipe is a long process. You have to cook the rice, the lentil and the vegetables separately and then mix everything. Well its just not mixing everything and there you go. No… There is more. The flavors and the taste make all the difference. The flavors come from the Bisi bele bath powder and the tempering added towards the end.
The Bisi bele bath masala is a special spice blend that gives a lot of depth and flavor to this dish. You can use ready bisi bele bath masala or make the spice blend at home.
You can also cook the dal first and then add the rice and veggies in it and cook them together in the pressure cooker. Sometimes I do it this way too to cut down on the time and steps. In this post, I have shown the traditional way of cooking everything separately.
The vegetables that are added to bisi bele bhath recipe are carrots, turnips, green peas, french beans, knol kohl, capsicum (green bell pepper), chayote squash (chow chow). You can also add your own choice of vegetables.
I have loosely adapted this bisibelebath recipe from Pratibha’s Blog.
Step By Step Bisi Bele Bath Recipe
I have divided the entire step by step bisibelebath recipe into 4 steps for ease of understanding and making it.
Step 1 – cooking the rice
Step 2 – cooking lentils and veggies
Step 4 – making bisi bele bath
Step 4 – tempering bisibelebath
Lets start with step 1 – cooking the rice
1. rinse the rice and peanuts first. Another option is too skip the peanuts at this step and fry them in the tempering/tadka and then add.
2. add 2.5 cups water.
3. soak both rice and peanuts for 20 to 25 mins in the water.
4. Add salt and keep on the stove top and cook the rice. No need to cover the pan with the lid.
5. simmer till the rice grains are cooked well. The peanuts would also cook well. Cover and keep aside.
Cooking lentils and veggies
6. soak 1 tbsp tightly packed tamarind in 1/2 or 2/3 cup warm water for 25 to 30 mins.
7. later squeeze and extract the tamarind pulp. Strain and keep aside.
8. in a pressure cooker, add rinsed tuvar dal/pigeon pea lentils, turmeric powder and 2 cups water.
9. Pressure cook the dal for on a high flame for 8 to 9 whistles.
10. once the pressure settles down on its own, mash the dal and keep aside.
11. in another pan, take the chopped veggies and sprinkle 1/4 tsp rock salt.
12. pour 2 cups water and stir.
13. cover and allow the veggies to cook till they are tender and cooked well, yet still retain their shape.
Making Bisi Bele Bath
14. now in the cooker with the mashed dal, add the cooked rice and peanuts.
15. then add the cooked vegetables along with its stock.
16. stir lightly.
17. add 1 cup water.
18. add tamarind pulp.
19. mix everything well gently, taking care the rice grains do not break.
20. now in another pan or bowl, take 3 tbsp bisi bele bath masala and 1 cup water.
21. stir very well. The masala tend to stick to the back of the spoon while stirring, so scrape it off and add to the mixture.
22. now add this bisi bele bath + water mixture in the cooker.
23. add desiccated coconut.
24. stir well. Also add salt as required keeping in mind that we have added salt to the vegetables and rice.
25. keep the cooker without the lid on the stove top and simmer on a low flame for about 20 to 25 mins. Add more water if required. Keep on stirring often so that the bisi bele bath does not burn at the base. the raw aroma of the tamarind has to go away and the flavors should be blended well. Cover and keep aside once done.
Tempering Bisi Bele Bath
26. in an another pan or the tadka/tempering pan, heat ghee or oil first. Crackle the mustard seeds and then temper the curry leaves, marathi moggu, dry red chilies, cashews and asafoetida (hing).
27. pour this tempering in the prepared bisibelebath. Stir and cover the cooker with its lid for about 5 mins, so that the tempering flavors infuse in the bisibelebath.
28. later Serve the bisi bele bath with potato chips or banana chips/wafers or fried papads or raita or yogurt. If you prefer, top with a bit of ghee while serving bisi bele bath.