Bisi Bele Bath is a wonderful mixture of cooked tuvar dal, mashed rice and vegetables in ghee-roasted n ground spices. And Onions! Mini-Onions. Ghee-Roasted :) Coconut - also ghee-roasted! Yes, I beg to differ when I hear someone mention Bisi Bele Bath as an equivalent of Sambar Rice. I agree, it does look like sambar rice, but take a spoonful of BBB and you can't stop! It's just heavenly! :) Sambar rice is just another everyday food, that's all. <Sorry, Sambar, I know I come to you more often...bcoz u r easier! >
I have beautiful memories of Bisi Bela Bath. Amma prepares it extremely well and even my ammamma asks her to make it when she comes. Its her kai vaakku :) Her recipe is often sought-after in the family but now, I'm letting the cat out of the bag! I do not know if I was successful in reproducing that exact taste, but it was somewhere close.
Bisi bela bath has a long list of spices, each of which plays a role in enhancing the taste of this dish. The addition of roasted coconut, ghee-roasted mini-onions, a collection of veggies like potatoes, carrots, beans...
Now, on to this Hot lentil Rice recipe...Some quick pointers -
Mini Onions - about 25
Potatoes - 2
Carrot -1
Beans - 12
Chayote (Chow-Chow ) - 1
Rice (Ponni or any normal variety that can get mashed well) - 1and 1/2 cups
Tuvar Dal / Toor Dal - 3 + 1 handfuls => To be pressure-cooked
Grated Coconut - 2 handfuls
Ghee - 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp + 2 tbsp
Tamarind - 1 lemon sized ball (or equivalent paste)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder (Home-made or any good brand) - 2 tsp (I use Ambika's)
Salt - to taste
Vanaspati /Dalda - 2 tbsp
Dhania (Coriander seeds) - 1 tbsp
Channa Dal (Kadala paruppu) - 1 tbsp
Red chillies (Dry) - 5 nos.
Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1 tbsp
Fenugreek (Methi / Mendayam) - 3/4 tsp
Fennel / Saunf (Sombu) - 1 tsp
Clove (Grambu) -3 nos.
Bay leaf - 1
Cinnamon - 1 stick (or 3/4 tsp powder)
Poppy seeds (KasaKasa) - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida (Hing) - 1/4 tsp
Black pepper corns - 8 nos.
Curry leaves - 2 sticks
Take a deep pan, heat 1 tsp of ghee and fry all the whole spices listed. Add grated coconut finally and roast until it turns a bit reddish. Take care not to blacken any of the spices or the coconut. Set aside on a bowl/plate and let cool. Later, grind to a coarse powder.
In the same kadai, pour another teaspoon of ghee and roast mini-onions until they turn a little more pinkish and glossy.
Fry the chopped veggies next.
Add salt, turmeric, sambar powder and tamarind extract. (Soak tamarind in 1 cup warm water and extract the juice, discarding the strands and seeds). Cook for 6-8 minutes until the raw smell vanishes.
Add the ground powder (of roasted coconut and spices). Mix well and cook for 5 minutes.
Mash the cooked dal and 3/4 th of it to the boiling sambar. We shall use the remaining 1/4 th of dal with the rice and mix the sambar with it in the final stage (like paruppu sadam and sambar over it, just like in childhood days!)
Cook until you see a frothy layer on top. That's about 7 minutes. Now, the Bisi Bela Sambar is ready. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves(cilantro) if you wish.
Final steps, but very important though - Mash rice well while adding ghee and some dalda to it. Mix the mashed dal with this rice. Then, add ladlefuls of prepared samber to rice-dal mixture and mix well. Take care not to mash cooked veggies. They should be seen and we should enjoy the crunch they give, while relishing the dish. That's it :)
I served these with deep-fried tapioca papads (Maracheeni appalam)
Some Cucumber Raitha would also be good to pair with this Aromatic Hot Lentil Rice.
Bisi Bela Bath definitely makes a satisfying Sunday brunch :) You may even want to take the afternoon nap after this wonderful meal!
I have beautiful memories of Bisi Bela Bath. Amma prepares it extremely well and even my ammamma asks her to make it when she comes. Its her kai vaakku :) Her recipe is often sought-after in the family but now, I'm letting the cat out of the bag! I do not know if I was successful in reproducing that exact taste, but it was somewhere close.
Mini-Onions - The queen of this recipe! |
Bisi bela bath has a long list of spices, each of which plays a role in enhancing the taste of this dish. The addition of roasted coconut, ghee-roasted mini-onions, a collection of veggies like potatoes, carrots, beans...
Vegetables, chopped ready |
Now, on to this Hot lentil Rice recipe...Some quick pointers -
- Mini onions are undoubtedly the *Star* of the recipe. If there aren't enough of them, I don't think it qualifies to be called "Bisi Bela Bath".
- Ghee :) Drool ...
- Enormous amounts of cooked and mashed toor dal (lentil)
- Lots of veggies - potatoes & carrots are a *must*, but less in numbers, individually, compared to mini-onions. You can also add some red onions (quartered), especially if there aren't enough of mini-onions.
- Mash both rice and cooked dal and add some ghee and mash well together using a potato masher, before mixing with the prepared Bisi Bela Sambar.
What I Used -
Mini Onions - about 25
Potatoes - 2
Carrot -1
Beans - 12
Chayote (Chow-Chow ) - 1
Rice (Ponni or any normal variety that can get mashed well) - 1and 1/2 cups
Tuvar Dal / Toor Dal - 3 + 1 handfuls => To be pressure-cooked
Grated Coconut - 2 handfuls
Ghee - 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp + 2 tbsp
Tamarind - 1 lemon sized ball (or equivalent paste)
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Sambar powder (Home-made or any good brand) - 2 tsp (I use Ambika's)
Salt - to taste
Vanaspati /Dalda - 2 tbsp
Spices - To Roast and Grind
Dhania (Coriander seeds) - 1 tbsp
Channa Dal (Kadala paruppu) - 1 tbsp
Red chillies (Dry) - 5 nos.
Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1 tbsp
Fenugreek (Methi / Mendayam) - 3/4 tsp
Fennel / Saunf (Sombu) - 1 tsp
Clove (Grambu) -3 nos.
Bay leaf - 1
Cinnamon - 1 stick (or 3/4 tsp powder)
Poppy seeds (KasaKasa) - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida (Hing) - 1/4 tsp
Black pepper corns - 8 nos.
Curry leaves - 2 sticks
How To -
Take a deep pan, heat 1 tsp of ghee and fry all the whole spices listed. Add grated coconut finally and roast until it turns a bit reddish. Take care not to blacken any of the spices or the coconut. Set aside on a bowl/plate and let cool. Later, grind to a coarse powder.
In the same kadai, pour another teaspoon of ghee and roast mini-onions until they turn a little more pinkish and glossy.
Fry the chopped veggies next.
Add salt, turmeric, sambar powder and tamarind extract. (Soak tamarind in 1 cup warm water and extract the juice, discarding the strands and seeds). Cook for 6-8 minutes until the raw smell vanishes.
Add the ground powder (of roasted coconut and spices). Mix well and cook for 5 minutes.
Roasted n ground spices |
Cook until you see a frothy layer on top. That's about 7 minutes. Now, the Bisi Bela Sambar is ready. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves(cilantro) if you wish.
Final steps, but very important though - Mash rice well while adding ghee and some dalda to it. Mix the mashed dal with this rice. Then, add ladlefuls of prepared samber to rice-dal mixture and mix well. Take care not to mash cooked veggies. They should be seen and we should enjoy the crunch they give, while relishing the dish. That's it :)
Bisi Bela Bath |
Bisi Bela Huli Annam |
I served these with deep-fried tapioca papads (Maracheeni appalam)
Tapioca papads |
Bisi Bela Bath definitely makes a satisfying Sunday brunch :) You may even want to take the afternoon nap after this wonderful meal!
looks interesting "You may even want to take the afternoon nap after this wonderful meal! "
ReplyDelete-- plans ready for sunday ! :)
- Kirthika NC
My fav. rice, looks delicious. I cook almost every fortnight.
ReplyDeleteWow.. that looks delicious.!!
ReplyDeleteyou are making me drool. It is my family fav. But I prepare it once in a while since getting a shambhar onions here is difficult. Love your dish.
ReplyDeletelooks delicious and yummy
ReplyDeleteA classic recipe so well explained n presented! Will save it to try :)
ReplyDeleteUSMasala
Sure looks tasty.
ReplyDeleteRita
Thank you friends! Glad to know this is a favorite for many of us:)
ReplyDeleteHai DV the rice looks very tasty.Love it Thanx for stopping by and the question u asked in my blog is DV we call Indian Yellow cucumber
ReplyDeletedelicious dear..U have made it perfectly..Love to make this..New follower here...
ReplyDeleteDo visit my blog too
http://yummytummy-aarthi.blogspot.com/
So this is how you make bisi bele bath? I had no clue. I only keep seeing it in menus here.
ReplyDeleteJust the ghee roasted coconut and onions are enough to make me drool! This sounds amazingly tasty! :)
ReplyDeleteThat is our family favo, looks yum with those papap!
ReplyDeleteThat looks great Divya:-)Yummy and healthy one pot meal:-)Must be a great combo with Tapioca pappad:-)Where do we get that pappad in Singapore?
ReplyDeleteperfect n mouthwatery version..thanks for sharing dear..;)
ReplyDeleteTasty Appetite
My hubby's fav rice preparation :-)It's been ages since I had some tapioca papads (sigh!)
ReplyDeleteLooks yummy and wonderful. Have a nice day
ReplyDeleteThanks, folks, for the lovely comments! :)
ReplyDelete@Ramya: I bought these in India and brought them here. Mustafa, being the one-stop store, should stock Tapioca papads as well, I think.
By the time I reached the last picture, i was craving for a plate of this deliciousness :)
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