Bisi bele bath - Typical Karnataka recipe

This is a speciality from my state - KARNATAKA.

I do not like this very much for the reason that it is very hard to digest atleast for me. On the contrary many people like it for its taste. In fact this is my husband's one of the favourite dishes too..




To make this dish there are two ways -
1. Prepare the masala powder yourself

OR

2. Use readymade bisibele bath powder.

I shall list the ingredients separately for masala powder and for the bisibele bath itself so that the entire recipe is modularized and is handy to pick and prepare.


Ingredients for the masala:





































Channa dal (kadale bele) 1 spoon
Urad dal (uddina bele) 1 spoon
coriander seeds (dhaniya or kottambari beeja) 1 spoon
Red chillies of two varieties - one for spice (4 in no - guntur menasinakayi) and the other for colour (8 in no- byadagi menasinakayi)
(You can reduce chilli quantity if you do not like it to be very spicy)
Grated dry coconut about 4 spoons
Cloves (lavanga) 4 in no
Cinnamon ( chakke) small stick of abt 1cm

Procedure for masala powder preparation:
Dry fry all the ingredients one by one in a pan on medium heat until they turn light brown and have aroma.
As you fry them, pour them back into separate containers and spread them so that they cool down.
For frying chillies you will have to use 1 tsp of oil.

Add chillies and coconut into mixer and grind it into powder.
Now add fried channa dal and grind.
Next add urad dal and coriander seeds and grind it into powder.
Then add cloves and cinnamon and grind them again into powder.

Alternatively, you can grind each ingredient separately and mix them at the end.

The powder should be a little coarse. It should not be fine powder.

The masala is now ready.

Ingredients for bisibele bath



























































Carrot -1No
Beans - about 50g
Potato - 1 No (medium size)
Groundnut - a fist full
salt 1 spoon
oil 2 spoons
asafoetida ( hing/ ingu) a pinch
mustard seeds (1 spoon)
Rice - 2 cups
toor dal (togari bele) 1cup


Procedure:
1. Wash the vegetables and dal separately.
2. Cut the vegetables into small pieces.
3. You should boil rice, vegetables and dal. For this, pressure cooker / rice cooker is the best.
Boil the rice and vegetables separately. Add 1/4 spoon salt to vegetables and dal before you boil.
OR You can also boil rice, vegetables and dal together.
Sometimes, it turns into a paste when you boil them together.
4. Let the boiled ingredients cool down (Allow Cooker to cool down for 15 minutes after 3 whistles)
5. Take a pan and add oil/desi ghee on medium heat. Ghee gives very nice aroma and adds to the taste.
6. Add mustard seeds and wait until they start splurting.
7. Add a pinch of asafoetida (hing/ingu)
8. Add ground nuts and fry them in oil ( Alternatively, you can boil them with vegetables but that leaves husk smell in them)
9. Add boiled items(rice, vegetables and dal).
10. Add a cup or two cups of water as the mixture will harden and the water evaporates.
11. Add salt and masala powder and allow it to boil for 15-20 minutes. Keep sauting while its boiling. Otherwise it will burn at the bottom.
12. Optional - garnish the dish with finely chopped coriander leaves and coriander leaves.

The dish is ready to serve. The dish has to be a little watery and it should not be too hard like lemon rice and should not be like lumps.

The dish can be served (by adding more ghee on top) with boondi and that gives it the ultimate taste.