Bisi Bele Bath | Sambar Satham | Rice Varieties

Bisi Bele Bath is a delicious meal from karnataka almost similar to our sambar satham. It's prepared from rice, lentil & vegetables, spice up with specially prepared spice powder. If you're short of time, you can use the readily available store brought bisi bele bath powder., but here in the recipe, i have prepared the spice powder on my own for better taste & flavor. 
Whenever we visit saravana bhavan here in houston for lunch, mostly i prefer to have this bisi bele bath. Piping hot bisi bele bath with appalam is a perfect combo to try!! Bisi bele bath tends to thick when it cool down, so i always prefer to have them as hot, that way it tastes best. And also I have learnt from the one of the tv shows, that in restaurant they have pour some piping hot sambar over the bisi bele bath & give a good mix just before serving.It helps to keep it as spoonable consistency.  So when you prepared this bisi bele bath ahead of time, just reserve some sambar, before adding rice into it, that way, later you can pour that over the rice and serve just like restaurant. Now let's check out the recipe, don't think it's too complicate by looking at the long list of ingredients, it's a one healthy meal that can be prepared within 30-40 mins, if you did a little prep ahead.

Bisi Bele Bath

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients
Raw Rice - 1/2 cup
Toor Dal - 1/4 cup
Asafoetida powder - 1/4 tsp
Tamarind -  a gooseberry size
Pearl onion - 5
Tomato - 1 small
Potato - 1
Carrot - 1
Peas - 1/4 cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - few
Cashew - 5
Red chili - 2
Mustard & urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Jaggery - a small piece
To roast & grind
Oil - 1/2 tsp
Red chili - 3
Kashmiri chili - 2
Coriander seed - 1 tsp
Chana dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Pepper corns - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp
Fennel seed - 1/4 tsp
Fenugreek seed - 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch stick
Cloves - 2
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp

Procedure

First pressure cook the dal along with asafoetida powder for 3 whistles. Similarly pressure cook the rice with 1 cup of water and keep it aside. Soak the tamarind in water for 30 mins. Now for roasting the spices, heat the oil in a pan.Add all the spices listed under "To roast & grind" except coconut and roast till it becomes aromatic. Keep it aside, then add the grated coconut and roast till it slightly changes its color.Let all spices to cool, then put it in the mixie jar and grind into fine powder.Chop the vegetables and keep it ready.Extract the tamarind juice from the soaked water, add the veggies into it and let it boil.Once the veggies are half cooked, add the spice powder and the cooked dal.Add the jaggery and salt and let it boil  for 5 mins in medium flame.Keep the cooked rice ready.Add the cooked rice(if you plan to serve later, reserve some sambar before adding rice) and mix it well.Now in a another pan, heat the 1 tsp of ghee, add the mustard, let it crackle, then add urad dal, cashew, curry leaves & red chili one by one. Let it all roast and add into the rice. Finally add the remaining ghee into rice and give a good stir.That's it, Bisi Bele Bath is ready to serve. Serve hot with appalam and potato fry

Notes:

• The chili that i have used here has very mild spice, based on the hotness of chili, add more or less as per your liking.
• I have used kashmiri red chili for bright coloring.
• Don't reduce the amount of ghee, it gives great flavor and taste to the rice.
• Jaggery helps to balance the spice in the rice.
  

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