BISIBELE BATH

Bisibele bath is a popular South Indian dish that is originally from Karnataka. This is a rice lentil dish is often prepared during festivals and feasts. Good balance of spices, vegetables right consistency, balance of sweet sour taste, flavors will decide the quality of BBB. Open pan cooking, right vegetables and freshly prepared masala powder are the key. Various recipes are followed for this dish. Posted here is the recipe I follow and is popular with my friends and folk.

• Preparation time - 30 minutes
• Cooking time - 1 hour
• Ease/Difficulty - moderate/elaborate
• Serves - 7- 8 people

Ingredients

• Rice - 1/4 kilo 
• Tur dal - 1/4 kilo 
• Oil- 50 ml 
• Turmeric - 2 pinches 
• Tamarind - size of a small lemon 
• Jaggery - 1/2 spoon powder 
• Ghi - 5- 6 spoons
• Beans - 100 gms 
• Carrots - 2 medium sized 
• Knol Kohl - 2 tender and medium sized 
• Capsicum - 2 big 
• Tomatoes - 2 medium 
• Peas - shelled - 1 cup 
• Curry leaves - 2 sprigs 
• Salt - taste 

For Masala

• Cinnamon sticks - 2 inch 
• Asafoetida - 4 -5 granules 
• Cloves - 4 - 5 
• fenugreek - 3/4 spoon 
• Byadagi chilies (broken) - 1 cup (about 10) 
• Coriander seeds - 1 cup 
• Grated desiccated coconut - 1 bowl (about 2 cups) 

For seasoning

• Ghee - 2-3 spoons 
• Mustard seeds - 1 spoon 
• Curry leaves - 2 sprigs 
• Broken cashew - handful 

Method

• Wash and cook tur dal with about four times by volume of water in a thick bottomed vessel or deep pan. Add 3- 4 spoons of oil, 2 sprigs of curry leaves and turmeric to this. 
• Wash rice and soak with water ( 2 times by volume) 
• Soak tamarind for 15 minutes and extract juice 
• Cut vegetables into 1 cm cubes, shell peas, cut capsicums and tomatoes into slightly bigger pieces (1 inch squares), grate coconut and keep aside. 
• When the dal is half cooked, add rice and cut/diced vegetables and let it cook, check for water and keep stirring occasionally to avoid burning. 
• Once rice, dal and vegetables are cooked add salt and jaggery, Stir well. 
• Add masala paste* and tamarind juice stir well bring it to boil.

• Add seasoning mix. Bisi bele Bath is now ready to savor. 
• Serve hot with ghee, raitha and sandige (fryums)/potato wafers.

Preparation of masala paste


In a thick bottomed kadai/wok on low heat, add 2 spoons of oil and fry cinnamon, asafoetida, fenugreek fry till aroma wafts, add coriander seeds, roast till aroma wafts, add chopped/cut red chilies and fry till crisp. Finally add grated desiccate coconut and fry till golden. Keep aside to cool and grind to a fine paste. Ground nut oil/pea nut oil is preferred.

Seasoning

To the same wok (used for roasting masala) add 4- 5 spoons of ghee , heat, add mustard seeds let it splutter, add broken cashew and curry leaves.
Add capsicum and fry till soft, add tomatoes and fry till soft.

Tips

• Open cooking in a pan is preferred over pressure cooking. Pressure cooking will over cook the ingredients and BBB loses texture. 
• Pressure cooking will result in a pasty/gooey consistency. Dal also binds all other ingredients and results in a hard mass after the dish cools down. 
• Onions are optional. Chopped onions may be added to add extra flavor. 
• Soft vegetables are to be avoided.(chow chow, ridge gourd, pumpkin etc) 
• Seasoning with ghee and curry leaves is the key. 
• Roasting masala ingredients on low heat is essential to hold essential oils that impart flavor. 
• I use equal quantities of dal and rice to get rich taste and nutrition 
• I avoid using channa dal and urad dal in masala paste to avoid sticky consistency of the BBB. 
• Cardamom and mace may be used in the masala if you prefer. I do not use to avoid mixed flavours and smells.