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

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.

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

Cook Time 30

Total Time 45

Servings 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