Bisibelebath

Bisibelebath is a popular Karnataka dish. It is a uniquely spiced sambar dish (a spicy tamarind and lentil gravy) with lots of vegetables. Also, the lentils, rice, vegetables and spices are cooked and stewed together. Doing so, melds all the flavors nicely. Bisibelebath is also extremely moist, so it is cooked with generous amounts of water.

I love bisibelebath because it is as healthy as it is flavorful. It has copious amounts of vegetables and lentils, so it is an excellent one-pot-meal. In terms of the spices added, in addition to the usual combination of coriander seeds, bengal gram, coconut, and red chillies, aromatic whole spices such as cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom are added. I usually add a couple of more pulses/seeds in my enthusiasm to make the spice blend :).

Most people successfully prepare bisibelebath in a pressure cooker. They throw all the ingredients into it and cook it in no time. However, I have been apprehensive to use the pressure cooker to cook rice, lentils, and vegetables, all of which take different times (and different amounts of water) to cook. So, I have never experimented with the pressure cooker to avoid the risk of getting a mushed up mass of everything. Ideally, we cook the lentils, rice, and veggies separately and then add everything together for a final mix and boil with the freshly ground spices. But, the lazy cleaner in me would go to great lengths to use just one pot rather than three pots! So, this is my version of a one-pot-dish that you can carefully control as it cooks on the stove top.

We made bisibelebath for a recent dinner party. In all the flurry of activity to get things done, I didn't have the luxury of time to take pictures. So, the bisibelebath seems dry and unappetizing in the pictures. I will hopefully replace the pictures soon. 

Please refer to the Glossary if you'd like more information on the Indian ingredients listed here

Ingredients (serves 4-5):

1. 1 cup raw rice (sona masuri or regular white rice, not basmati)
2. 1/2 cup toor dal / thuvaram paruppu / yellow lentils 
3. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
4. 3.5 cups vegetables, diced small (a mix of any vegetables of your choice; I added pearl onions, radish, beans, carrots, potatoes, and cauliflower)
5. 2 - 2.5 inch ball of tamarind (depending on how tart the tamarind is)
6. 3 tablespoons ghee / clarified butter
7. 1/4 cup peanuts
8. 1/3 cup chopped cilantro / coriander leaves
9. a few curry leaves
10. Ingredients to prepare the masala powder:
1. 2 tablespoons kadala paruppu / bengal gram / channa dal
2. 1/4 cup coriander seeds / dhania
3. 3-4 dry red chillies (add more depending on spice tolerance)
4. 1/4 cup grated coconut
5. 1 teaspoon split urad dal / split, husked black gram
6. 2 teaspoons toor dal / thuvaram paruppu / yellow lentils
7. 1 teaspoon vendhayam / fenugreek seeds / methi seeds
8. 4* 1 inch pieces of cinnamon
9. 7 cloves
10. 4 green cardamom pods
11. Salt, to taste
12. 1 tablespoon of sesame oil

Preparation:

1. Prepare the masala powder by separately roasting each ingredient (listed above) until they brown or become aromatic. Cool, and then grind everything to a powder. It might seem like there's a lot of masala powder, but it surely makes a difference when added to the dish.
2. Soak 1/2 cup of toor dal in some water for 30 minutes. 
3. Soak the tamarind in 1 cup of hot water for 30 minutes. When the tamarind is done soaking, extract the juice from the tamarind. Add 1/2 cup of warm water to the remaining pulp and extract more juice. Reserve the tamarind extract.
4. When the toor dal has soaked, drain, wash, and add it to a big pot. Add a tablespoon of sesame oil, turmeric powder and 3 cups of water and cook until the dal is done. Note that the dal won't be as mushy and mashable if cooked on the stove top instead of a pressure cooker.
5. Add rice and vegetables to the cooked dal. Add enough water to cover the rice and vegetables. Then add 1 more cup of water, and cook on low-medium heat with the pot closed and stirring periodically
6. When the rice is half cooked, add salt, tamarind extract, and 1/2 cup of water, and give a stir to evenly mix everything in. Mix the ground masala powder with a little water to make a paste. Add this masala paste and 1 tablespoon of ghee, and gently mix. If the mixture looks too thick, add another 1/2 cup of water or as needed to make the mixture a little watery, because as the bisibelebath cools, it will become dry.  Continue to cook on low heat with the lid on until the rice and vegetables are done. 
7. Fry/roast the peanuts in 2 tablespoons of clarified butter until brown. Add curry leaves, and add this to the bisibelebath and gently mix. Garnish with chopped cilantro leaves and serve hot.

Serve hot with chips, papad, vadaam, or raita.