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Bisi Bele Bhaat | Bisi Bele Bhath | How to make bisi bele bhaat

vindhyadesai

Bisi Bele Bhaat (BBB) is the default dish for a big function like weddings in South Karnataka. It is a crowd favourite dish and made for most festivals and grand celebrations. It is a thick rice and lentils dish with loads of vegetables, fragrant spices and topped with cashews and groundnuts. Very filling and super tasty, generally served with masala corn flakes, potato chips and mixed raitha. Use freshly made masala and your BBB will be a hit. BBB is probably one of those dishes which people like it best when homemade rather than hotel style. Not many restaurants serve good bisi bele bhaat. So, why not try making it at home.
There are quite a few steps, keeping everything organized makes it easy without making you feel overwhelmed. Make dry BBB masala previous day or first thing before starting bisi bele bhaat. I have learnt this recipe from many people each with their own proportions for masala but credit has to go to my friend’s mother who gave me her handwritten recipe which I tried with some variations. Enjoy!

Bisi Bele Bhaat | Bisi Bele Bhath | How to make bisi bele bhaat
 
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Favourite and festive bisi bele bhaat
Author:
Recipe type: Lunch
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 4-6 people
Ingredients
  • 1 Cup raw rice/sona masuri
  • ⅔ Cup toor dal/togari bele/ split pigeon pea
  • ¼ Cup BBB Masala
  • ½ Cup packed grated coconut
  • 2 ripe tomatoes
  • 3 Tbsp desi ghee
  • 12-15 cashews broken
  • ¼ Cup groundnuts
  • 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
  1. Clean, wash and boil toor dal till soft. Mash and keep aside
  2. 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
  3. Boil tomatoes in a pan of hot water till their peels come off. Set them aside to cool
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. Use the same pan, heat ½ a Tbsp of ghee, add broken cashews and fry till golden. Keep aside
  8. In same pan, heat ½ Tbsp of ghee, fry groundnuts till crunchy and their skin slightly changes colour
  9. In a big pan, heat 1 Tbsp of ghee, add mustard and let them splutter. Add hing and curry leaves, fry till crisp
  10. Add diced capsicum and saute till soft. Keep aside
Making BBB (bringing it all together)
  1. In a thick bottomed vessel, bring the cooked and mashed dal back to heat. Add turmeric
  2. Add the boiled vegetables. Mix well
  3. Add ground masala. Mix well. Adjust water if it becomes very thick by adding around ¼ Cup. Check and a little more if needed
  4. Add jaggery, tamarind paste/pulp and salt to taste. Mix well
  5. 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
  6. Add red chilli powder. Mix again
  7. Add in cooked rice. Do not add very hot rice. Break it up as you add it. Mix, mix, mix
  8. Add the dry masala ingredients, copra + khus-khus + chana mixture. Mix
  9. Add capsicum sauteed with curry leaves and mustard tadka
  10. Add ghee roasted cashews and groundnuts(keep a few for garnish). Mix again!
  11. Add the last Tbsp of ghee
  12. Add in some chopped coriander. This is the final mixing
  13. 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
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Stepwise:

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 1/2 a Tbsp of ghee, add broken cashews and fry till golden. Keep aside
  

In same pan, heat 1/2 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 1/4 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!

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