Bisi bele bath is a nutritious and flavorful rice recipe. It is very easy to digest and comfy a one-pot meal recipe from the south Indian region. It is one of my favorite rice recipe.
About Bisi bele bath
Bisi bele bath OR Bisi Bele huli anna is most famous or i can say one of the signature recipe of Karnataka. Bisi bele bath is made with rice,lentils and mix veggies.
Bisi means hot (temperature), bele means lentils and huli translate to sour and anna means rice. Bisi bele bath is dal and rice cooked together with tamarind and spice powders. As the name suggests it has to be served hot. It tastes best when seasoned in ghee and served hot.
Bisi bele bath is a unique dish. The flavors and the taste makes all the difference. The flavors come from the bisi bele bath masala and the tempering added towards the end. the bisi bele bath masala is a special spice blend which gives a lot of depth and flavor to this dish. You can use readymade bisi bele bath masala or make the spice blend at home.
Reasons to love this bisi bele bath recipe,
- so easy to make – And this one is my favorite reason.
- Easy to digest
- made with easily available ingredients – yeah, all the ingredients are easily available at any Indian store.
- can be prepared under 30 minutes
- comparatively less oil recipe
- healthy and nutritious recipe
Ingredients required
Vegetables – Some very common Indian vegetables are used in this recipe like eggplants, tindora (ivy gourd), green beans, carrots, guvar (cluster beans) and spinach. Additionally, you can add potatoes, green peas and capcicum too.
Peanuts are used here too. It adds the unique crunch in this recipe. This recipe contains peanuts. If you are allergic to peanuts then you can avoid peanuts.
Rice and lentils – The base of the recipe is rice. I used sona masoori rice variety here. You can use basmati or surti kolum rice instead but, sona masoori is the best variety for this recipe. Apart from rice, I used toor dal, green moong dal, and a little bit of chana dal here. Those who are new to Indian Cooking, I suggest checking our lentils and pulses guide here.
Spices – red chili powder, turmeric powder, salt, jaggery, bisi bele bath powder and are the main spices used in this recipe.
Tempering – oil, mustard seeds, cumin, onion, dry red chilies, curry leaves are the main ingredients for tempting.
Ghee is used here too. 1 spoon of ghee on the top adds the extra taste in this recipe. However, you can completely avoid it.
*Traditionally rice and lentils are cooked separately. but I have cooked both together with veggies.
More South Indian Recipes on the blog,
- Rasam Rice – our most popular recipe with 700+ youtube likes
- Tamarind Rice – tangy and flavorful rice.
- Potato kurma – very delicious potato curry
- Rava Idli recipe
- Tamil garlic onion tamarind curry
Karnataka style Bisi bele bath recipe
Ingredients
vegetables:
- 8-10 nos shallots(sambar onions) , or 1 medium onion,chopped
- 1 drumstick, optional
- 2 medium brinjals, chopped
- ¼ cup spinach, chopped
- 8 nos guvar (cluster beans)
- 5 nos french beans
- 1 medium carrot, chopped
for tempering:
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- 3 dry red chilies
- a pinch of asafoetida
- 7-8 curry leaves
- 2 tablespoon oil
other:
- 1 cup rice, sona masoori
- ⅓ cup toor dal / pigeon pea split
- 1 tablespoon moon dal green
- 1 tablespoon bisi bele bath powder
- 2 tablespoon tamarind pulp
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 2 teaspoon jaggery
- 1 teaspoon ghee / clarified butter, on the top – optional
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- 3 cups water, to pressure cook rice
- 2 cups water, to adjust the liaquid consistency of rice.
- ¼ cup peanuts, optional
Instructions
- Soak tamarind in warm water. Extract pulp and keep aside.
- Wash toor dal and rice together. Keep it aside.
- Peel shallots or dice onion. Chop drumstick, French beans and brinjals into finger length size. Chop carrots, guvar(cluster beans) and keep aside.
- in a pressure cooker, transfer rice, toor dal, moong dal and vegetables.
- add salt and jaggery.
- add water and cover the lid.
- pressure cook on a medium flame for 3 whistles. keep aside and allow pressure cooker to cool down.
preparing Tempering/tadka
- Heat Oil in a pan.
- add mustard and cumin seeds.
- when they crackle, add dry red chilies and curry leaves.
- add onions(shallots) and saute for a while.
- add cooked rice and vegetable mixture.
- add red chili powder, turmeric powder, bisi bele bath powder and tamarind pulp.
- mix it really well.
- Also add green chilies if you like.
- add some water to adjust the consistency .
- simmer for 5 minutes.
- add some ghee on the top and serve hot.
Video
Notes
- I have used Regular Onions here.
- Use sona masoori rice. Avoid basmati rice.
- You can use all types of vegetables like turnip, yellow pumpkin, chow-chow, potato etc, I personally avoid potatoes.
- You can use colored bell peppers. Avoid vegetables rich in water like white pumpkin as it will disintegrate.
- You can use legumes like peas, double beans, green tuvar etc if you have on hand.
- Bisi bele bath should neither be dry and looking separate like biryani nor hard and lumpy. But it should be loose and when you place it on a plate it should spread around.
- This recipe contains peanuts. If you are allergic to peanuts then you can avoid peanuts.
We’re big lentil fans over here and I’m always looking for new ways to use them. This will be a hit with the whole family. Such a cozy comfort food! 🙂 ~Valentina
Love one pot meals. In addition, this is a great make ahead meal for those busy week days. So delicious.
These are simple and fast to prepare and everyone enjoyed them!Thank you so much for the recipe!
This sounds so incredibly flavorful and healthy. There are a couple of ingredients I don’t know so I will have to look for them when I next go to our dukaan.
Bisi bele bath looks perfect, I go to my aunts house in Bangalore just to eat this, I cannot wait to try this recipe, Priya!
Thank you Aarthi 🙂