Bisibele Bath / Bisibele Huli

This is a very famous Kannada dish and I am sure most of us will love this delicious recipe of Karnataka.

Popularly referred to as Bisibela Bath / Bisibele Bath by the Iyers & Iyengars and as Bisibele Huli by the Madhwas.

Ingredients:

1.       Rice: 1 cup (180 to 200 g)

2.       Toor Dal: ½ cup

3.       Tamarind extract from Lemon sized ball by adding 400 ml water

4.       Salt

5.       Ghee: 4 tbsps

6.       Vegetables: (2 Carrots vertically sliced as that in Avial, Beans: 10 Numbers  - cut as that in Avial, Small Onions: 5 to 6, Green Peas: 20 gms)

7.       Curry and Coriander leaves

8.       Jaggery: 1 tbsp

9.       Oil: 1 tsp

10.   Mustard: 1 tsp

11.   Asafoedita: a pinch

12.   Turmeric powder: a pinch

For Preparing Bisibele Powder:

1.       Gram dal: 1 tbsp

2.       Coriander seeds (Dhaniya): 2 tsp

3.       Jeera: 1 tsp

4.       Black Pepper: 6 to 8

5.       Vendhiyam (Fenu greek): ½ tsp

6.       Red Chillies (medium sized): 8 to 9

7.       2 or 3 curry leaves

8.       Asafoedita : a pinch

9.       30 gms of grated coconut

Preparation Procedure:

1. In a Pressure cooker, cook rice and toor dal separately (add a pinch of turmeric powder to the toor dal along with water) by allowing more whistles than normally you will cook for rice. I allowed around 10 whistles.
2. In a Kadai, add 2 tbsp ghee and sauté the small onions for 2 mins and then add the beans and carrot and sauté them for 2 to 3 mins till a slight colour change.
3. Now add the tamarind extract, salt and a pinch of turmeric powder and allow this to boil for 10 minutes.
4. In a separate kadai, add a tsp of oil and roast the contents listed under the section above: ‘For preparing Bisibele Powder’ (except for coconut alone) for a minute or two and not more by keeping the stove in sim.  While the roasted contents cool, grind it in a mixer by adding the grated coconut in the form of a very fine powder. You can also add little water to the grinded mix and make it as a paste.
5. Add this paste to the vegetable tamarind kadai and let it boil till the vegetables are cooked.
6. Add jaggery, curry leaves, coriander leaves and roasted cashews and switch off the stove.
7. Take the cooked rice and dal and mash them well together and add a tsp of ghee.
8. Add this mashed rice to the Kadai and mix it well with the Kadai ingredients by mashing them well. Add 2 tbsp ghee and mash them well.
9. Season Mustard and asafoedita and add it to the kadai.
10. You can decorate it with roasted cashews, coriander leaves and serve it hot, the best combination being Potato Chips / Plantain Chips for this.

Hot Yummy Bisibele bath is ready….. J