Karnataka is known for its diverse culture when it comes to food habit, dress code, language or lifestyle. But amidst such diversity people from this state have hailed their culinary practice with great respect and dedication. Bisi Bele bath is one such traditional Kannada platter which is cooked in almost every household of Karnataka. In Kannada, “bisi" means hot, “Bele" means lentil and “Baath" means rice. The dish earned its name as it is prepared with rice, daal and vegetables and is consumed hot.
It is mostly popular as a meal among the vegetarian Kannada folks as this dish is prepared without onion and garlic. The distinct flavour of Bisi Bele Baath comes from generous use of desiccated coconut or poppy seeds while cooking the dish.
Bisi Bele Bath is a very easy-to-prepare regular South Indian meal and you can prepare this mouth-watering dish with very little ingredients if you have the Bisi Bele Bath powder in hand. You can add some fresh vegetables and lentil to add more nutrition to this dish and prepare it for your child’s tiffin or lunch. To make your Bisi Be Bhath you can serve it with raita, papad, pickles or boondhi.
Ingredients (240 ml cup is used)
- Rice ¾ cup
- 2 tbsp. toor daal
- 2 tbsp. grated coconut (fresh or dried)
- Tamarind ball (size of a small lemon)
- 1 ½ tsp jaggery
- 2 tsp. ghee
- Handful of curry leaves
- ½ tsp cashews broken
- 1 pinch of asafoetida
- 2-3 red chillies deseeded
- 1tsp mustard seeds
- Salt to taste
- 2 tsp. Sambar Stories Bisi Bele Bath powder
- ½ cup green peas
- ½ cup French beans chopped
- ¼ cup chopped capsicum (you can add bell peppers on availability)
- 1/3 cup carrot diced into small pieces
You can add more vegetables as per availability and choice if you are preparing it for your child’s tiffin.
How to prepare
- Wash and soak the rice for 30 mins. prior cooking.
- Boil rice and daal separately in a pressure cooker up to 3 whistles and keep them aside.
- Soak tamarind in warm water and extract its pulp. Strain and keep aside.
- Mix Sambar Stories Bisi Bele Bath powder, jaggery and salt in the tamarind pulp.
- Mash the rice and daal well and keep aside.
- Now, heat 1 tsp ghee in a frying pan and add asafoetida, mustard seeds, curry leaves, cashew nuts and red chillies. Stir fry all these ingredients till the mustard and chillies start spluttering.
- Add chopped vegetables and sauté.
- Now, add a little water and cover the pan with a lid till the vegetables soften. Make sure vegetables are not overcooked. Doing so, they will lose their nutritional benefits and natural colour.
- Add the mashed daal and rice and ½ cup of water. Cook them in low medium flame for 4 minutes till all the veggies are well mixed with rice and daal.
- Now, add the tamarind pulp to the rice and give it a quick stir. Remove the rice from heat.
- Bisi Bele Bath is ready to be served with papad or raita.