Bisi Bele Bath | How to make Bisi Bele Bath | Sambar Sadam Recipe

Bisi bele bath, a delicious medley of rice, lentils and vegetables cooked with freshly ground spice masala. Bisibele bath is one of traditional Karnataka Cuisine Star dishes. A spicy, tangy, aromatic dish that will be a star of any Lunch or potluck party.

Bisi bele bath recipe | Bisibele bath | How to make Bisi bele bath | Sambar sadam | Easy Sambar sadham recipe | Spicy and tangy Sambar rice | Easy Sambar rice recipe | Lunch ideas | How to make sambar sadam for party | Lunch Potluck Recipe | Tambrahm Cuisine | Sambar Sadam Tamilnadu Style | No onion No garlic sambar sadam | Sattvic meal

About Bisi Bele Bath

Bisi Bele Bath is a traditional dish from Karnataka, featuring a fragrant blend of rice, lentils, and vegetables. The unique flavor of this dish comes from its spices. Clove, marathi moggu (kapok buds), and cinnamon contribute to its distinct taste. Those who cook Karnataka cuisine regularly keep a special spice blend for this bisi bela baath.

The name Bisi Bele Bath translates to "hot lentil rice." The semisolid, gooey texture typical of a well-prepared sambar sadam. It almost resembles north-indian style khichdi, texture wise.

Here again the difference between a dal khichdi and sambar sadam is the spices used. Khichdi uses simple chili and ginger with some garam masala. Whereas sambar sadam uses a variety of spices or a spice blend.

My Bisi Bele Bath Recipe

In today's bisibele bath recipe, I have skipped adding clove, cinnamon and marathi moggu (kapok buds). My kids hate the taste of cinnamon and clove in sambar sadam. What's the point in making something, which the kids don't like.

I have included the list of spices in the recipe card. You can add them to make it an authentic Karnataka style Bisibela bath.

This sambar sadam recipe is almost 13 years old on the blog. It is getting a much needed love with new content and decent pictures.

The Varieties of Sambar Rice in the Blog

Instant pot sambar sadam, a popular recipe in the blog, especially for those who love to cook in Instant Pot. A recipe tried by many and has got great reviews.

The above instant pot recipe, is an authentic tambrahm style one pot sambar sadham. The recipe includes detailed instructions to get it perfect every time.

If you are someone who love to eat your rice and sambar separate, check this Instant pot sambar . It's perfect to enjoy with plain rice, idly and dosas too. Again it's a family favorite and foolproof recipe.

Why Try this Sambar Rice?

First and foremost, it is almost a one-pot meal. That should be good enough to convince you to try this. But then I m listing quite a few brownie points on this delish Instant pot sambar sadam.

• A Balanced Meal: This Karnataka style sambar sadam includes almost 2 cups of vegetables, rice, and dal. This ensures all your food group needs like protein, fiber, carbs, and fat are ticked.
• Quick and Easy : This dish takes 30-45 minutes from start to finish. On a busy day, sick day or don't feel like cooking anything elaborate, this sambar rice has your back.
• Easy on your Tummy : Made with Rice, dal, and vegetables. This aromatic and flavorsome mushy rice digests easily. It makes it easy on your system. Just a warm bowl of this No onion, no garlic sambar rice, envelopes you with lots of warmth and love.
• No onion No Garlic Recipe: Since it is sattvic, you can make it on festival days. It is suitable as an offering for your poojas.
• Serves a Crowd : The quantity in this sambhar sadham recipe serves 6 adults. This when made with other dishes for any get together, can easily serve 8 adults. Double or triple the mentioned quantity for more servings

Ingredients to Make Sambar Sadam My Style

• Main ingredients : Rice & dal, tamarind are the main heroes of this delish finger licking meal. I have used Ponni raw rice along with tuvar dal and moong dal in this sambhar rice.
• Vegetables : I have used Drumstick, capsicum, radish and chow-chow in this tangy and delish sambar rice. You can also use yam, potatoes, carrots, squash etc.
• Spices : A combination of chana dal and coriander seeds with red chilies is the base for this spice. Fresh coconut, ginger, turmeric are added for the aroma and bright color. A small amount of raw rice is ground along, to add creaminess. These ingredients are freshly roasted and ground to make this creamy and luscious sambhar sadham.

• Fat : I prefer to cook with cold pressed sesame or groundnut oil . I have used groundnut oil in this wholesome meal.
• Tempering: A tadka of mustard, methi seeds and hing is added. I also use fresh curry leaves and a few red chilies .
• Garnish : I have added loads of fresh coriander leaves and generous tablespoon of ghee on this aromatic sambar sadam. You can also add roasted cashew nuts, boondi , crunchy peanuts on top.

Step by Step Instructions to make Bisi bele bath

Please check recipe card below for exact measurements of each ingredient used and also for the detailed instructions

• This sambar sadam recipe, is not a traditional Bisibele bath. But this how i make it at home. A super hit recipe with my family and friends.
• Measure rice and dal in a bowl. Wash 3-4 times with water, until the water runs clear. Soak rice and dal for 20 minutes. Soak tamarind in ¼ cup of water.
• Wash and prepare all the vegetables you are planning to add in the sambar sadham.
• Drain the water from rice and dal. Add water and pressure cook it 4 whistles. Let the pressure fall on its own.
• Open the cooker and mash the rice and dal roughly. Keep aside until use.
• In a small pan, add drops of oil. Roast chana dal, coriander seeds, red chilies and rice. Roast in a medium flame, keep sauteing continuously.

• Once the dal turns golden brown, take it off the heat. Add chopped tomatoes, fresh coconut, curry leaves ginger and turmeric to it and let it roast in the residue heat. Transfer the contents to a flat plate, allow it cool completely.
• Take the roasted ingredients in a blender jar and grind it to a smooth paste with the water.
• Heat a large pan, with oil. Once hot, add the tempering spices. Add the vegetables, saute for a minute.
• Extract tamarind water and add it to the tempered vegetables. Add salt. Let this boil and veggies cook well.

• When the vegetables are ¾th cooked, add the freshly ground spice paste to the pan. Wash the blender with ½ cup water and add it to the pan.
• Let this boil for 8-10 minutes and the rawness of the masala evaporate. Now to this add the mashed rice and dal. Mix well.
• Keep the flame low. Let this come to a boil and mingle well. Do not allow it to boil vigorously. A slight boil around the corners is enough. Stir occasionally to avoid food burn.
• After 10-12 minutes of mild boil. Add jaggery and mix well. Finish off with fresh coriander leaves and 2-3 tablespoon of ghee. Take it off the stove. Serve it hot.

More Such Comfort Meals

Bisi Bele Bath | How to make Bisi Bele Bath | Sambar Sadam Recipe

Bisi bele bath, a delicious medley of rice, lentils and vegetables cooked with freshly ground spice masala. Bisibele bath is one of traditional Karnataka Cuisine Star dishes. A spicy, tangy, aromatic dish that will be a star of any Lunch or potluck party.

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Course: Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: Karnataka, South-Indian

Keyword: Bisibele bath, Easy sambar sadam recipe, How to make bisi bele bath, Open pan sambar sadam, Sambar sadham for lunch

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 people

Calories: 292kcal

Equipment

• Pressure cooker

Ingredients

• ½ cup ponni raw rice
• ¼ cup toor dal
• 2 tablespoon moong dal
• 2 cups of vegetables I have used drumsticks, radish, chow chow, capsicum
• 20 grams tamarind a small lemon-sized tamarind
• 1-2 teaspoon jaggery powder
• 1-1.5 teaspoon salt or to taste
• fresh coriander to garnish

Spice paste To grind

• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 2 teaspoon chana dal
• 10 round red chilies
• 1 clove for authentic bisibela bath
• 1 inch cinnamons tick for authentic bisibela bath
• 1 small marathi moggu or kapok buds for authentic bisibela bath
• ¼ cup freshly grated coconut or 2 meaty wedges of fresh coconut
• 1 teaspoon raw rice
• 1 large tomato
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger grated
• 1 tablespoon fresh turmeric grated, you can also add ½tsp turmeric powder

Tempering

• 2 tablespoon ground nut oil
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• ¼ teaspoon hing or asafoetida
• ¼ teaspoon methi or fenugreek seeds
• 2 red chilies
• a sprig of curry leaf

Instructions

Initial Prep Work

• Measure rice and dal in a large bowl. Wash it 2-3 times with water until it runs clear. Soak rice and dal in water, in the same bowl until use. Usually 10-15 minutes.
• Soak tamarind in ½ cup of water. Amount of tamarind depends on its sourness. Please check notes below.
• Wash and chop all the vegetables required to make this sambar sadam. I have used ½ a radish, ½ a capiscum, 2 drumsticks, ½ a chayote.
• Chop all the vegetables into chunks. I prefer chopping them into medium sized cubes.

Let us prepare the fresh masala

• In a small pan, heat 2-3 drops of oil. Take chana dal, coriander seeds ,red chilies. Roast until the dal turns golden brown. Towards the end add rice.
• if using clove, cinnamon and kapok buds, add them with the dal and coriander seeds.
• Keep the flame medium and roast, keep stirring it to avoid burning. Once the dal turns golden, take it off heat.
• To this add fresh coconut, chopped tomatoes, curry leaves, ginger and turmeric. Let these ingredients roast in the residue heat. Transfer the contents to a flat plate. Let this cool completely.
• When cool enough, take the roasted ingredients in a blender jar. Add enough water and grind it to a fine paste. I used my magic bullet.

Let's make Sambar Sadam

• Drain the rice and dal. Add enough water, turmeric powder and pressure cook it for 4-5 whistles. Let the pressure fall on its own.
• We are using ¾ cup of grains for which i added 2 - 2.5 cups of water to pressure cook.
• Open the cooker, mash the rice and dal roughly with a spoon or back of the ladle.
• In a large pan, heat oil. Once hot, add the tempering ingredients.
• Add chopped vegetables to this and saute well. Extract tamarind water about 3-4 cups and add it to the vegetables. Add salt to this.
• Let this come to a rolling boil and the veggies cook until it is ¾th done.
• Now add the ground spice paste to this and mix well. Add 1 cup of water to the blender jar, wash and add it to the pan.
• Let this come to rolling boil and cook for 8-10 minutes for the rawness of spices to escape.
• Now add the mashed rice and dal to this and mix well. Reduce the flame. Check the consistency, add ½ cup of water if needed.
• Let this cook in a simmer flame for 10 minutes. Keep stirring to avoid food burn, Finally add jaggery powder, ghee and fresh coriander leaves and take it off the stove.
• Serve it hot with some pappad and boondi on top. We relished it with just papad.

Serving Suggestions

• The above amount serves 6 adults. We didn't have any leftovers. But if making for a gathering with other dishes, this quantity will definitely serve 8 people.
• The sambar sadam absorbs liquid as it rest and tends to become more solid. If this happens, add hot water to this sambar sadam, adjust salt, add a good tempering, give a good stir and serve immediately.

Side Dish Suggestions

• My kids prefer Potato okra curry or simple potato podimas with this delish one pot sambar sadam. 
• You can make this crispy baby corn pakoda, aloo tikki , sago fritters to go with your Instant pot sambar sadam.

Notes

• Amount of tamarind depends on its sourness. Some tamarinds have good color but less sourness, whereas some have pale color but good sourness. The brand i tried this time had good color but less sourness for the amount i generally use. So take tamarind accordingly.
• I have used 10 red chilies in the recipe, the spice level was correct for us. I have also added jaggery to give that sweet taste of Karnataka cuisine.
• If you will be skipping jaggery, please reduce the chili accordingly. 
• the consistency of the sambar sadam must be flowy, it should not be like potato mash. it should smoothly flow from the ladle to the plate. So adjust water consistency accordingly. 
• You can skip 'To grind spice paste' entirely and use store bought bisibele bath powder to spice the sambar sadam. 
• In that case, add fresh or dried coconut powder to the dish directly, after adding the spice powder. 
• You can add a variety of vegetables to the dish. You can add pumpkin, brinjal, potatoes, yam etc. Add cooked chickpeas, frozen peas to the dish.

Nutrition

Calories: 292kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 448mg | Potassium: 649mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 5417IU | Vitamin C: 338mg | Calcium: 103mg | Iron: 3mg

Disclaimer

I m not a Doctor or a Nutritionist The Nutrition information provided above comes from the plugin and is only an estimate.

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FAQ on this Sambar Sadam

Can I make this recipe in Instant pot?

Yes, you can. Please do the preps mentioned in the above recipe and follow my Instant pot sambar sadam recipe for the cooking instructions

Can I add onion and garlic in this Recipe?

For personal reasons, recent years, we avoid cooking with onion and garlic. But if you like the taste, please go ahead and add shallots in the recipe. I have never tasted garlic in sambar sadam, so wouldn't recommend that.

Why rice is roasted and ground along with other spices?

Ground rice adds a creaminess to dish. Whenever we make araichuvitta sambar, ½ teaspoon of raw rice is roasted with other spices. It gives the sambar a nice texture.

Can I use Homemade Bisbele bath powder for Spice?

Yes, you can. If using your spice blend, then skip all spices mentioned the 'To grind' section. Add your spice blend along with coconut, ginger, turmeric, tomatoes and grind it to a fine paste.

Sambar sadam turns solid or cakey?

While making one pot meals like sambar sadam, it is important to add good amount of liquid and seasonings.
It is natural for this kind of one pot meal to turn little cake-y as it rests. If this happens, just before serving, add ½ to 1 cup of hot water. Adjust the salt. Add a good tempering of red chilies and curry leaves. Give it a good stir and serve.