South Indian
Bisi Bele Bath (Karnataka Hot Lentil Rice)
Bisi Bele Bath (Karnataka Hot Lentil Rice) is South Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice
- 1/2 cup toor dal
- 2 cups mixed vegetables (carrot, beans, peas, potato)
- 3 tbsp tamarind pulp (soaked and strained)
- 3 tbsp bisi bele bath powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 cup peanuts
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 15 curry leaves
- 2 dried red chilies
- 3 tbsp ghee
- 5 cups water
- 1 tsp jaggery
- 1 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Pressure cook the rice and toor dal together with the turmeric and water until soft and well mashed, about 4 whistles.
- Separately simmer the mixed vegetables until nearly tender, then stir in the tamarind pulp, bisi bele bath powder, jaggery, and salt.
- Combine the cooked rice and dal with the vegetable mixture and simmer together for 10 minutes, adding hot water if it gets too thick; the dish should be a soft, porridge-like consistency.
- Heat the ghee in a small pan and fry the peanuts until golden, then add the mustard seeds, dried red chilies, and curry leaves and let them sizzle.
- Pour the tempering over the bisi bele bath and serve hot, straight from the pot, the way it is eaten across Karnataka.
Serve it with
A South Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Bisi Bele Bath (Karnataka Hot Lentil Rice), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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What it is eaten with
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The sharp little thing
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Something cool and fresh
A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand, so the absences below are as deliberate as the presences. Bisi Bele Bath (Karnataka Hot Lentil Rice) carries peanuts and dairy. It is free of the remaining 8 allergens on that list.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | Yes | Adai (Tamil Nadu Multi-Lentil Dosa) |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | Yes | Adai (Tamil Nadu Multi-Lentil Dosa) |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Hearty
- Protein
- Medium
- Protein quality
- Partial
- Food groups it covers
- Grains, Pulses, Vegetables, and Dairy
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Bisi Bele Bath (Karnataka Hot Lentil Rice) takes about 45 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on rice, toor dal, and tamarind.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from South India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.