Bisi Bele Bhat- As authentic as it can get

This my friends, is an authentic rice dish of my home state, Karnataka. The unique combination of rice and toor dal along with some exotic spices and vegetables makes this dish extremely nourishing and satisfying. 

Don't get carried away by the simple and unassuming looks of this rustic dish. Getting the right blend of the spice mix which brings out the aromatic spicy flavour of the dish can be a little tedious. I myself have seen so many of my friends go wrong. Worse, I have even seen them trying to correct the mistake by adding the Garam masala. This to me seems like  sacrosanct to the recipe. Luckily for me, my mom, grandmom and especially my MIL make excellent Bisi bele bhat. In fact this recipe is an amalgamation of all the three. So you can say that this is almost like sharing an heirloom recipe. 

Bisi bele bhat might not be very photogenic but I assure you that it can make one of the most satisfying, healthy and nourishing one pot meal. Top this rice with a dollop of ghee and serve with  onion and tomato raita and potato chips and you can see everyone around you falling in love with this down to earth dish.

Bisi Bele Bhat recipe

Preparation time: 30min

Cooking time: Almost an hour

Serves- 4


Ingredients:

Long grained rice- 1 cup

Toor dal or Pigeon peas- 1/2 cup 

Carrot- 1 large, chopped into 1″ pieces

French beans- Chopped into 1″ pieces

Fresh or frozen peas- 1/2 cup

Potato- 1 small, cubed

Onion- 1 med, cut into strips

Tomato- 1, copped fine

Capsicum-1, cut into strips

Tamarind paste- 5 tbsp 

Salt- to taste

Jagerry- 1tbsp 

Ghee  or Clarified butter- 2 tbsp+ extra for serving

Mustard- 1tsp

Curry leaves- 15

Asafotida- 1 large pinch

For the Spice mix

Bengal Gram-1-1/4tbsp

Black gram- 1tbsp

Poppy seeds- 1-1/2tsp

Coriander seeds-1-1/2tbsp

Dried Red chillies- 4-5

Cumin seeds- 1tsp

Fenugreek seeds- 1/4tsp

Cinnamon- 1″ piece

Cloves- 2

Marati moggu or badi laung- 1 (optional)

Oil- 1tsp

Grated fresh Coconut

Method:

• Pressure cook the pigeon peas and the rice separately and keep aside.
• Steam cook the vegetables till 3/4th done and set aside.
• For the spice mix, Heat a tsp of oil in a pan and add the cinnamon, badi laung and cloves and fry for a min.
• Once the cloves puff up, add the cumin seeds and the fenugreek seeds and saute till they are lightly browned.
• Add the bengal gram and the black gram and fry for a min more.
• Add the coriander seeds and poppy seeds and fry till the poppy seeds sputter.
• Stir in the red chillies and fry till they are crisp.
• Turn out the heat and add the grated coconut and mix well.
• Cool the mixture completely and grind the mixture to a fine paste along with some water.
• In a large vessel, mix the cooked rice and the pigeon peas along with the steamed vegetables and mix well.
• Add the ground paste, tamarind extract, salt and jagerry and allow the mixture to stand for 30min
• Heat the clarified butter in a large wok and add the mustard seeds.
• Once they pop, add the curry leaves and the asafoetida and fry for a min.
• Add the onion strips and fry till they are tender.
• Add the tomato and the capsicum and fry till the tomato turns mushy.
• Add the rice and vegetable mixture and mix well.
• Add about 5 to 6 cups of water and allow the mixture to simmer on a low flame for 15mins till the consistency of thick porridge is achieved.
• Check for salt and take off the heat. Serve hot with curd or curd dip of your choice.

P.S.If fresh coconut is not available, then dried coconut can be used in it’s place. 


This recipe is my contribution to Aipi and Priya's Tuesday bookmarked event

and to the lovely My legume love affair event which was started by susanna of the well seasoned cook and whichis now being hosted by Smitha of Kannada Kitchen