Bisi Bele Bath
A Karnataka one-pot dish of rice, lentils and mixed vegetables cooked with tamarind and a ground spice blend.
Photograph credit: Bisi Bele Bath (Bisibelebath) by Food and Remedy, LLC · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Where This Goes Wrong
Cook the rice and lentils until very soft.
Add hot water if the dish thickens as it stands.
Use a ready-made spice mix if you have one.
Serve it with a spoonful of ghee on top.
How to Make Bisi Bele Bath
Tap a step to highlight it, or turn on Cook Mode for large type and step-by-step focus.
-
Rinse the rice and lentils together. Cook with 900 ml of the water and the turmeric in a heavy pan for 25 minutes until very soft.
-
Boil the vegetables in the remaining water with the tamarind paste for 8 minutes until tender. Stir in the spice powder and salt.
-
Mix the vegetables into the rice and lentils and simmer for 5 minutes, adding hot water if too thick.
-
Heat the ghee in a small pan, fry the mustard seeds and curry leaves for 30 seconds and pour over the dish.
Why It Works
Bisi bele bath means hot lentil rice in Kannada, and it is a dish of rice, lentils and vegetables cooked together until soft, with a tangy, spiced sauce running through it. It is eaten hot, loose and spoonable, and a spoonful of ghee on top is traditional.
Cook the rice and lentils until very soft, past the point where you would normally stop. They should nearly dissolve into each other. Add more water than for plain rice. The dish thickens as it stands, and a stiff one is dry and heavy.
The flavour comes from a spice powder made of dry-roasted chilli, coriander, cumin and lentils, ground to a coarse powder. A shop-bought bisi bele bath mix works well when you are short of time.
Tamarind pulp gives a gentle sourness. Add it to the vegetables, and simmer so the raw taste cooks out before everything is combined. A handful of roasted cashews or peanuts scattered on top adds crunch against the soft rice.
After You've Cooked It
Keeps in the fridge for 2 days. Add hot water when reheating, as it thickens.
Serving Bisi Bele Bath
- Plain yoghurt
- Papad
- Boondi
- Pickle
Nutrition per Serving
Per serving, an approximate calculation from the ingredient list. Treat it as a rough guide: part of the energy comes from foods, or weights per item, with no recorded source. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
Cooked this? Keep a note for next time
Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked.
First published ; last changed .
You Might Also Like
More Indian cooking and dinner ideas from Weekly Delight.
Vegetable Pilau
Basmati rice cooked with whole spices, onion, carrot and peas in a single covered pan.
Vegetable Pulao
Basmati rice cooked with peas, carrots, onion and whole spices in a single pot. Four servings in 40 minutes.
Tawa Pulao
Cooked rice fried on a griddle with pav bhaji masala and vegetables. Twenty minutes and unmistakably Bombay.
Vegetable Biryani
Vegetables and part-cooked rice layered with saffron milk and fried onion, then sealed and steamed. The dum method…
Vegetable Curry
Potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and peas simmered for 25 minutes in a coconut and tomato curry sauce with ginger and…
.JPG){kind=link}
Vegetable Korma
Cauliflower, potato, carrot and peas simmered in a mild coconut and ground almond sauce with korma paste.