Bisi bele bhath (Kannada: ಬಿಸಿ ಬೇಳೆ ಭಾತು, romanized: bisi bēl̥e bhātu, lit. ‘hot lentil [boiled] rice’) or bisi bele huliyanna (ಬಿಸಿಬೇಳೆಹುಳಿಯನ್ನ) is a spicy, rice-based dish with origins in the state of Karnataka, India. It is said to have originated in the Mysore Palace and it took a 100 years for the dish to come out of the palace kitchens and another 200 years to spread across the state of Karnataka.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bisi_Bele_Bath
Merry Christmas!
It took a while to get around to making this dish. Developing a recipe for the chili cook-off at my company holiday party put it off by several days. (I wasn’t the winner. I may or may not choose to share that recipe somewhere down the line. For now I’m sticking with the Indian dal dishes I’ve been focused on recently. ) Once I had that nailed down, I discovered that one of the ingredients I figured I’d be able to find locally wasn’t available, so I had to wait a few more days for an Amazon delivery.
Anyway, if you’re a regular reader you’ll recall my last posts talking about the meal Wikipedia referred to as ” paruppu that is mixed with charu and rice.” Apparently that dish has its own name, and I just needed to look a few paragraphs down the page to find it. Bisi bele bhath, which literally means “hot lentil rice”, and is made by separately cooking lentils, rice, and a vegetable-spice-broth mixture that closely resembles rasam/charu, then mixing them all together.
I say the vegetable mixture “closely remembles” rasaam, because bisi bele bath has its own spice blend with a few extra ingredients that aren’t typically found in rasam masala. The biggest difference is the use of sesame seeds. I believe traditionally they would be black sesame seeds, but I had white ones in the cupboard, so that’s what I used. There’s also some coconut, cinnamon, and cardamom, in addition to most of the spices found in rasam powder. I suspect my version is significantly less spicy than is traditional- I actually found the finished dish to be the mildest of any of the Indian dishes I’ve made recently, and based on color alone my powder appears to have significantly less chili in it than commercially available bisi bele bhath masalas I see on Amazon. I did remove most of the seeds from my dried chilies, which made the powder less spicy, but wouldn’t have affected the color. (If you prefer to buy a ready made spice mixture rather than make your own, this one* is recommended by most of the blogs I looked at making this recipe)
Several of the recipes called from frying some (or even all) of the powder ingredients in oil. I didn’t do that, but include oil as an optional ingredient if you choose to do that. I’m not sure how that would affect the texture or shelf life of the powder. (Since sesame seeds and coconut are a fairly oily, I suspect that this spice blend is probably already prone to going rancid before it would otherwise loose it’s flavor.)
The ingredient I wound up having to order from Amazon was raw peanuts*. Peanuts are of course not really nuts, but another legume that I don’t believe I have used before on this blog, so that’s kind of exciting. Of course, being a legume, they do need to be cooked before you eat them; in this recipe we boil them with the rice. I bought the 5 lb. bag because it had Prime shipping and would arrive in a few days, rather than putting this recipe off a whole extra week or more. Since I only used a couple tablespoons I may need to experiment with roasting my own peanuts for snacking. Peanuts only showed up in a few of the recipes I looked at, so feel free to skip them.
Feel free to adjust the vegetables you use. Just try to keep the total quantity about the same (roughly five cups, by my calculation). If you are vegan, simply substitute more oil for the ghee.
I think often this dish is made with rice that has been cooked until it falls apart, similar to congee. I prefer my rice to still have some texture to it, so I didn’t cook it that long. If you want the more porridgy texture you could use the “pot-in-pot” method to cook the rice and dal in the same pressure cooker.
In the optional ingredients I list marathi moggu.* Also known as kapok buds, these are the flower bud of the kapok tree. I did not purchase any this time, but the internet tells me it has a flavor like a combination of mustard and black pepper.
Bisi bele bhath is usually served with some variety of crunchy snack on the side. I went with papadums*, which are a thin crisp made from a sun-dried lentil batter. They come as a thin, flat dry disk, which you either deep fry or microwave for a minute, which causes them to puff and become crisp. Other recommendations include boondi, (which are little puffs of deep-fried batter made from chickpea flour) and potato chips. I’m not clear whether chips means American style, or if it’s the British usage of the word, aka French fries- I’ve seen pictures going both ways, so feel free to do whatever feels right to you.
I just served my bisi bele bhath with plain yogurt, but some sort of raita would probably be more traditional.
Bisi Bele Bhath Masala
Yield: ~¾ cup
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 12-15 minutes
Total: 15-20 minutes, plus cooling time
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1 Tablespoon urad dal
1 ⅔ Tablespoons chana dal
1 ¼ inch cinnamon stick
3 whole cloves
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
2 Tablespoons coriander Seed
1 ½ Tablespoons sesame seed
5 cardamom pods
⅓ teaspoon fenugreek seed
2 ¾ teaspoons cumin seed
10 red chilies
2 ½ Tablespoons unsweetened coconut
³⁄₁₆ teaspoon asafoetida
Optional:
1 small marathi moggu
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
1 teaspoon oil, to fry chilies and coconut
a few curry leaves, fried with the chilies
½ teaspoon ground turmeric (add after grinding)
Place a dry skillet over medium-low heat and add the urad and chana dals, cinnamon stick, cloves, peppercorns, coriander seeds, sesame seeds and cardamom pods. Toast, stirring or shaking constantly, until golden and fragrant, 8-10 minutes.
Add the fenugreek, cumin, and red chilies and toast 2-3 minutes longer, until fragrant.
Add the coconut and 3/16 teaspoon asafoetida and toast for about 30 seconds, until golden. Transfer toasted spices to a plate and cool completely.
Transfer to a spice grinder or high speed blender and grind to a fine powder. Set aside.
Bisi Bele Bhath
Yield: 4 servings
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 50 minutes
Total: ~1:20
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
⅔ cup rice
2 Tablespoons raw peanuts
1 ¾ cup water
½ cup toor dal
1 ¾ cup water
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons tamarind paste
AND
⅔ cup hot water
OR
½ cup tamarind extract
2 Tablespoons oil
4 teaspoons ghee
1 teaspoon mustard seed
5 curry leaves
1 small onion, diced
OR
11 small shallots, peeled
⅔ cup carrot, diced
½ cup green bell pepper, diced
1 ⅔ cups eggplant, large dice
1 small tomato, chopped
1 small potato, large dice
¼ cup green peas
6 green beans, cut in 1” pieces
½ teaspoon turmeric
⅛ teaspoon asafoetida
⅔ teaspoon salt
2 cups water
2 ¾ Tablespoons bisi bele bath masala
1 ⅓ teaspoons jaggery
About 1 ¼ cup hot water
¾-1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ghee
⅔ teaspoons mustard seed
10 cashews, broken
1 large pinch asafoetida
8-10 curry leaves
1-2 red chilies
5 teaspoons cilantro, finely chopped
Optional:
4 teaspoons unsweetened coconut (if using comercial bisi bele bath powder)
1 marathi moggu, in the tempering
⅔ cup water to disolve the powdered spices
1 teaspoon oil, with the dal
2 dried red chilies, in the vegetable sauté
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 drumstick pod, cut in 2” lengths
½ teaspoon cumin seeds, in the vegetable sauté
Rinse the rice and peanuts in several changes of cool water, until the water runs clear. Cover with 1 ¾ cups of water and let soak for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, rinse the toor dal until the water runs clear. Cover with cool water and soak for 30 minutes.
Cover the tamarind paste with boiling water and let it sit until cool enough to touch. Squeeze the pulp into the water and strain, discarding seeds and fibers. Reserve the tamarind water.
Drain the dal and place in a pressure cooker with 1 ¾ cups water and ½ teaspoon each turmeric and salt. Seal the pressure cooker and bring up to high pressure. Cook for about 9 minutes, then remove from heat and let the pressure reduce naturally. Remove lid and mash the dal well.
Bring the rice to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until rice is soft.
Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and add the oil and 4 teaspoons of ghee. When the oil shimmers, add 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds and stir until they sputter. Add five curry leaves and the onion or shallots and sauté until the onions are translucent. Add the carrots, bell pepper and eggplant and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add the tomato, potato, peas and green beans and cook for 4-5 minutes, until tomato begins to break down. Add ½ teaspoon turmeric, ⅛ teaspoon asafoetida and ⅔ teaspoon salt. Mix well and add 2 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer until vegetables are ¾ cooked, 8-10 minutes.
Stir in 2 ¾ Tablespoons of the bisi bele bhath masala (or a commercial bisi bele bath masala) and the jaggery and about ⅔ of the tamarind water. Add the cooked rice and lentils and mix well. Add hot water as needed to get a thick but pourable consistency. Bisi bele bath will thicken as it cools, so better to be a little too thin than too thick. Taste and add salt and/or more tamarind as needed. Bring to boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.
Heat 4 teaspoons of ghee in a small pan. Add ⅔ teaspoon of mustard seeds. When they sputter, add the cashews and a large pinch of asafoetida. Fry until the cashews just begin to brown, then add 8-10 curry leaves and 1-2 red chilies. Fry until the curry leaves crisp, then pour over the bisi bele bath, add the cilantro and stir it in. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes for flavors to infuse.
Serve with papadums, potato chips/fries, or boondi and yogurt or raita.
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
I receive no compensation for mentioning any other websites or product.
Lorin cooks Legumes 
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