Bisibelabath

Bisibelabath (or) Sambar Saadam is a very famous Karnataka dish, made from rice, lentil, mixed vegetables and spice powders. This is a one pot meal and very delicious to taste. For a long time,  I have been under the misconception that Bisibelabath is too complex to cook, but I was wrong. I realize now that this is one of the easiest dish that one can prepare and relish. This is a wholesome meal as it contains plenty of vegetables and very filling to the stomach. Generally this rice dish doesn't require any side-dish, as the dish itself has lots of vegetables in it, if you still need any side-dish, just enjoy it with few papads/chips.

For the preparation of Bisibelabath, we need to have rice and lentil (toor dhal) cooked separately and kept ready. The mixture of vegetables and spices are separately cooked and finally all the ingredients are mixed together to get the tasty sambar rice or Bisibelabath.

Bisibelabath powder is used in its preparation, which can be either made at home or can be store-bought. (I prefer MTR's Bisibelabath if store bought, as it taste good).

Ingredients:

1. Mixed Vegetables cut to 1 inch long - Small Potato (peeled) - 1, Small Carrot - 1, Beans - 10, Peas - 1/4 Cup, Raw Banana - 1/2, Elephant yam - 1/2, Chayote (peeled) - 1/2 , Drumstick - 1, Brinjal - 3, Broad Beans - 10, Cluster Beans - 6
2. Small onions (peeled) - 12
3.Tomato (Big) - 2 , finely chopped
4. Bisibelabath powder - 4 tsp
5. Tamarind Extracted Water - 1/2 Cup
6. Rice - 1 Cup
7. Toor Dhal - 1/2 Cup
8. Salt - 2 to 3 tsp
9. Seasoning Ingredients 1: Oil - 3 tbsp, Cinnamon Sticks - 2, Cloves - 4
10. Seasoning Ingredients 2: Ghee & oil - each 3 tsp, mustard - 2 tsp, curry leaves - 15
11. Coriander seeds (chopped)- 3 tsp

Pre-requisite:

1. Pressure cook the rice and toor dhal together, adding 4 to 4 1/2 cups of water for 4-5 whistle. (the rice and dhal can be overcooked , no problem. If they are undercooked, it will be a spoiler).

2. In 2 teaspoons of ghee, fry about 10-12 broken cashews and keep ready.

Method:

1. In a Pressure cooker, add the oil and add the seasoning ingredients 1. When they turn aromatic, add small onions and cook for 2-3 minutes.

2. Add all the vegetables and mix well, add little salt and cook the vegetables until they are 60% done (you can close the pressure cooker, but do not add weight. Cook closed for 3-4 minutes and then open).

3. Add the chopped tomato and mix well and cook for another 2 minutes, until tomatoes are mashed.

4. Add the Bisibelabath powder and required salt and mix well and coat the powder well into the vegetable mix.

5. Add the tamarind extracted water and mix well.

6. Add the cooked rice+toor dhal mixture and mix all the contents well. If the rice is thick, you can add 3/4th glass of warm water to loosen it up and mix well.

7. Add 2-3 teaspoon of ghee and mix well and close the cooker and immediately add the weight and switch off after one whistle.

8. Open the cooker when the pressure completely drops and then season as mentioned with seasoning Ingredients 2 and pour onto the bisibelabath and mix and serve.

9. Garnish with coriander leaves (optional).