Bisi bele bath is one of the popular recipes from Karnataka. It is tasty and nutritious balanced meal made with rice, lentils and vegetables.
Other Karnataka Dishes which are very popular are : Vangi Bath , Tomato Bath , Vegetable Bath, Hirealekayi Chitranna , Masala Lemon Rice and Puliyogare.
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About this recipe
Bisi Bele Bath is a spicy vegetable rice and dal/lentil based dish from Karnataka. In Kannada ,Bisi means hot , bele meaning dal. As this rice is prepared with dal and is served piping hot topped with ghee, its named as Bisi Bele Bath. Most important key for this dish is bisi bele bath masala powder.
Making bisi bele bath spice powder is quite easy . To make Bisi Bele Bath powder, roast all spices together and powder it. I have shared a separate post on how to make bisi bele bath powder.
Ingredients , tips and variations
Dal / Lentils - Traditionally only Toor Dal is used to make bisi bele bath . Equal proportion of lentils to rice is taken as measurements , 1: 1 ratio is usually followed. But if you wish you can used ⅓ cup of dal for every ½ cup of rice.
Rice - any short grain rice or any regular rice works well here . We generally use sona masuri , rajmuddi , Indrayani or any less polished rice can be used. If short grain is not available , then you can use basmati rice too.
Vegetables - Carrot , French beans , potato and capsicum are only used in this recipe. Adding tomatoes are optional , you can add 1 tomatoes if you wish. You can use fresh / frozen or dry peas in this recipe. If using dry green peas then soak for about 6-7 hours , prior to using .
Tamarind - Soak lemon size Tamarind approximately about 1 tablespoon of tamrind pulp in warm water. Adding Tamarind juice is important in this recipe as mild sour taste is must in Bisi bele bath.
Jaggery - Its recommended to add jaggery , you can add upto 1 tablespoon of jaggery powder. If its not available , add 1 teaspoon of sugar.
Water : Rice+ Dal to water ratio in bisi bele bath is 1: 5 . For every 1 cup of rice and dal ( ½ cup rice +½ cup dal) , add 5 to 6 times of water.
Bisi Bele Bath Powder - Special blend of spices , either you can make at home or use store bought . Find home made bisi ble bath powder recipe here
Hing / Asafoetida - Tempering with big fat pinch of asafoetida is must.
Tempering - Add Onions or shallots while tempering . Adding shallots enhances the taste of bisi bele bath .
Watch Video
How to make Bisi Bele Bath
Preparation
Roast all ingredients under bisi bele bath powder , ground to semi fine powder and keep it aside. Can refer my separate post on how to make bisi bele bath powder.
Rinse toor dal and soak for 30 minutes or more. But I prefer to soak lentils for 4hrs-6 hrs because it helps to leaches out anti nutrients.
Drain out , wash with cold water and set aside.
Rinse and soak rice for 30 minutes.
Soak lemon size , tamarind in ¼ cup warm water for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, squeeze and extract tamarind juice and discard residue.
Directions
Firstly ,in a pressure cooker, take soaked toor dal, pinch of salt, 2-3 drops of oil and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. Cook dal well ,until its completely mushy.
Whilst ,In another pressure cooker, add 1tbsp of oil , curry leaves and hing.
Add all vegetables and green peas , give a quick stir . Can add pinch of turmeric too. I have not added because I didn’t wanted bisi bele bath to turn more yellowish in colour.
Add ½ cup of soaked rice ,
Now add 3 cups of water and ½ teaspoon salt and pressure cook. Alternatively, you can separately cook rice and vegetables. As it doesn’t make any difference to taste and texture of the dish, I cook vegetables and rice together.
Pressure cook for 1 whistle. When pressure settles down on it’s own, open the lid.
Now keep the cooker on low flame, add cooked dal , bisi bele bath powder , tamarind water, jaggery and salt to taste.
Combine everything,
add 3 tablespoon of oil or ghee.
Mix well , cover lid and cook on simmer for about 6-8 minutes.
Whilst prepare tempering, in a pan heat 2 tablespoon of Ghee /clarified butter. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, dry red chillies ,peanuts and cashews.
Fry well until peanuts starts to change colour, move all tempering ingredients to one corner.
Add chopped onions or shallots, hing/asafoetida and fry till translucent.
Finally ,pour this tempering over prepared bisi bele bath and mix well.
Turn off the stove, serve bisi bele bath piping hot with ghee and top with khara boondi and potato wafers.
Recipe Card
Bisi Bele Bath Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ Cup Rice
- ½ Cup Toor Dal
- ½ Cup Green Peas ,fresh or frozen
- 5 Cups Water - refer notes
- 1 Carrot - large cut into chunks
- 2 Capsicum - large cut into chunks
- 6 Green french beans
- 2 Potatoes - Medium cut into chunks
- ¼ cup Tamarind Juice from 1 tablespoon tamrind pulp
- ½ tablespoon Jaggery powder
- 4 tablespoon Oil
- 2 teaspoon salt - or as required
For Bisibelebath Powder
Dry Roast Powder
- 1 tablespoon Chana Dal
- 1 tablespoon Urad Dal
- 1 teaspoon Khuskhus / Poppy seeds
- ¼ teaspoon Methi/Fenugreek Seeds
- ½ teaspoon Jeera seeds /Cumin Seeds
- 2 Cloves
- 1 " inch Cinnamon Stick
- 2 Marathi Moggu
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- ½ cup Dry Coconut
- 6 Dry Red Chillies , 4 guntur + 2 byadgi
- 1.5 tablespoon Coriander Seeds
For Tempering
- 2 tablespoon Ghee/Clarified Butter
- ½ teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- 2 tablespoon Cashews
- ¼ teaspoon Asafoetida
- 2 Sprigs Curry leaves
- 2 Dry Red Chilly - broken to pieces
- 1 Onion Chopped or Onion shallots ¼ cup - optional
Instructions
- Roast all ingredients under bisi bele bath powder , ground to semi fine powder and keep it aside. Can refer my separate post on how to make bisi bele bath powder.
- Rinse toor dal and soak for 30 minutes or more. But I prefer to soak lentils for 4hrs-6 hrs because it helps to leaches out anti nutrients.
- Drain out , wash with cold water and set aside.
- Rinse and soak rice for 30 minutes.
- Soak lemon size , tamarind in ¼ cup warm water for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, squeeze and extract tamarind juice and discard residue.
- In a pressure cooker, take soaked toor dal, pinch of salt, 2-3 drops of oil and pressure cook for 3-4 whistles. Dal should be well cooked and completely mashed.
- In a pressure cooker, add 1tbsp of oil , curry leaves and hing. Add all vegetables and green peas , give a quick stir . Can add pinch of turmeric too. I have not added because I didn’t wanted bisi bele bath to turn more yellowish in colour.
- Add ½ cup of soaked rice , 3 cups of water and ½ teaspoon salt and pressure cook. Alternatively, you can separately cook rice and vegetables. As it doesn’t make any difference to taste and texture of the dish, I cook vegetables and rice together.
- Pressure cook for 1 whistle. When pressure settles down on it’s own, open the lid.
- Now keep the cooker on low flame, add cooked dal , bisi bele bath powder , tamarind water, jaggery and salt to taste.
- Combine everything, add 3 tablespoon of oil or ghee.
- Mix well , cover lid and cook on simmer for about 6-8 minutes.
- Whilst prepare tempering, in a pan heat 2 tablespoon of Ghee /clarified butter.
- Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, dry red chillies ,peanuts and cashews.
- Fry well until peanuts starts to change colour, move all tempering ingredients to one corner.
- Add chopped onions or shallots, hing/asafoetida and fry till translucent.
- Pour this tempering over prepared bisi bele bath and mix well.
- Turn off the stove, serve bisi bele bath piping hot with ghee and top with khara boondi and potato wafers.
Video
Notes
Serving Suggestions :
Bisi bele bath is always served pipping hot with ghee and spicy boondi on top. Also Potato wafers and boondi both are served along side of bisi bele bath.
But it can be eaten as it own without any boondi on top. Boondi is added to get that crunchiness in every bite.
Also fried peanuts, cashews and flakes of fried dry coconut are added on top while serving.
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Hi Muktha Gopinath,
I did try your vegetable briyani, exactly following the instruction it turned out very delicious.
All your recipes looks interesting,I will be trying many of your recipes later. Thanks for all your good
collection of recipes.
Thanks
Sandhya
Muktha Gopinath
Hey thanks sandhya for visiting my blog and trying out a recipe .Hope i'll update my blog shortly