Bisi Bele Bathಬಿಸಿ ಬೇಳೆ ಬಾತ್
⏱ Prep 20m🍳 Cook 35m🍽 Serves 4🌿 Vegetarian
Video: Hebbars Kitchen (YouTube)
Bisi bele bath — literally “hot lentil rice” — is Karnataka’s one-pot comfort dish: rice and toor dal cooked with vegetables, tamarind and a fragrant home-ground masala, finished with a generous ghee tempering of cashews and curry leaves. Hearty and aromatic.
📍 Make it in Plano
This recipe is the same everywhere — but where you buy the ingredients and eat the dish is local to you.
Finding Desi spots near Plano…
Ingredients
- ▪Rice1 cup
- ▪Toor dal3/4 cup
- ▪Mixed vegetables (beans, carrot, peas)2 cups
- ▪Tamarindlime-sized ball
- ▪Dried red chillies5
- ▪Coriander seeds2 tbsp
- ▪Chana dal & urad dal1 tbsp each
- ▪Grated coconut3 tbsp
- ▪Cinnamon & clovesa little
- ▪Ghee3 tbsp
- ▪Cashews, mustard seeds, curry leavesfor tempering
🌍 Cooking abroad? Substitutions
- A good store-bought bisi bele bath powder (MTR) works if you can’t grind fresh — but home-ground is worth it.
- It thickens as it sits — loosen with hot water before serving.
Method
- 1Dry-roast the red chillies, coriander, chana dal, urad dal, cinnamon and cloves; add coconut and roast until golden. Grind to the bisi bele bath masala.
- 2Cook the rice and toor dal together until soft and mushy. Separately boil the vegetables until tender.
- 3Soak the tamarind and extract thick juice.
- 4Combine the cooked rice-dal, vegetables, tamarind extract, ground masala and salt with enough hot water to make a thick, flowing consistency; simmer 8–10 minutes, stirring, so the flavours marry.
- 5Temper: heat ghee, fry cashews golden, splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves, and pour over. Serve hot with a spoon of ghee, boondi and papad.
A Desi.Net original recipe · part of our Indian Cuisine library. Confirm details and adjust to taste.