1 small lemon sized tamarind soaked in water or 1 Tbsp tamarind extract/imli/hunase
1 small lemon sized jaggery/gur/bella
1 Tsp mustard/rai/saasuve
7-8 curry leaves
A pinch of hing/ingu/asafoetida
½ Tsp turmeric/haldi
½ Tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander to garnish
Vegetables
1" chopped 2 medium sized carrots
1" 100-120 Gm or 15-18 chopped green beans
1 Cup diced capsicum
1 Cup shelled green peas
For Dry Masala Powder:
¼ Cup fried gram/huri gadale/kadale pappu/sukha chana
2 Tbsp desiccated coconut/kobri/copra
½ Tbsp khus-khus/gasa-gase/poppy seeds
Method
Preparation
Clean, wash and boil toor dal till soft. Mash and keep aside
Meanwhile, wash and cook rice with 1:3 or 1:4 rice:water proportion. It should not be mushy or hard, let it be just right like you are mixing it with sambar/huLi/kolambu
Boil tomatoes in a pan of hot water till their peels come off. Set them aside to cool
In another pan, boil carrots and beans till just cooked and soft. Again, do not make them mushy. Add shelled green peas. Cover and turn off heat. Keep it covered till they are required. Residual heat will cook the peas
If BBB masala is ready, grind it with grated coconut and water into a paste. Else, make the masala at this step. Use the recipe given here, the amount of masala given in recipe is enough for rice-dal-veg proportions mentioned here
In a pan, dry roast gasa-gase/khus-khus/poppy seeds till lightly fragrant. Add copra/desiccated coconut. Turn off heat. Dry grind this with fried gram/huri gadale into a powder
Use the same pan, heat ½ a Tbsp of ghee, add broken cashews and fry till golden. Keep aside
In same pan, heat ½ Tbsp of ghee, fry groundnuts till crunchy and their skin slightly changes colour
In a big pan, heat 1 Tbsp of ghee, add mustard and let them splutter. Add hing and curry leaves, fry till crisp
Add diced capsicum and saute till soft. Keep aside
Making BBB (bringing it all together)
In a thick bottomed vessel, bring the cooked and mashed dal back to heat. Add turmeric
Add the boiled vegetables. Mix well
Add ground masala. Mix well. Adjust water if it becomes very thick by adding around ¼ Cup. Check and a little more if needed
Add jaggery, tamarind paste/pulp and salt to taste. Mix well
Squeeze in the boiled tomatoes, pulp, peels and everything with clean hands or just mash with a spoon and add. Make sure there are not very big chunks of tomatoes. Mix well
Add red chilli powder. Mix again
Add in cooked rice. Do not add very hot rice. Break it up as you add it. Mix, mix, mix
Add the dry masala ingredients, copra + khus-khus + chana mixture. Mix
Add capsicum sauteed with curry leaves and mustard tadka
Add ghee roasted cashews and groundnuts(keep a few for garnish). Mix again!
Add the last Tbsp of ghee
Add in some chopped coriander. This is the final mixing
Serve hot, with masala corn flakes, potato chips and mixed vegetable raitha. Do not forget to add some ghee on top!
Notes
Use diced potatoes if you want and cook them with carrots and beans
Grated coconut gives thickness and body to the masala. Use coconut for masala and not desiccated for flavour and smoothness
BBB tastes best when kept for a few hours. Try making early morning for an afternoon lunch and it stays warm. Heat it up before serving
Do not make bisi bele bhaat very thick, it absorbs a lot of water as it sits. Keep it nice and mixed and not very dry. If it does become thick and dry, add a little water, mix and heat gently till hot
Do not keep anything on high flame to avoid a burnt taste of either ghee or dal or anything for that matter. Control the flame and heat as necessary
If pressure cooking dal and rice, cook them separately. Dal needs more time and number of whistles to make it soft and mashable
Recipe by Food Of Interest at https://foodofinterest.com/bisi-bele-bhaat/