Bisibelabath / Sambhar Rice

Bisibelabath, the so called Sambhar sadam is one of the most favorite dishes of mine. And I have a lot of nostalgic memories for this dish. :)

Years back, during my schooling my best buddy who is a native of Karnataka used to bring this dish for lunch and I still remember the way I used to crazily eat it. :) And since then, we have been making it at home regularly and all of us truly relish it.

Yes, bisibelabath or bisibelahuliyanna is a dish that originated in Karnataka and would be found in restaurants that serve Udupi cuisine. The large amount of fresh and home ground spices give this dish a unique aroma and taste that would tempt you to eat more and more :)

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup
Toor dhall - 1/2 cup
Fresh peas - 1/2 cup
Small onions - 1/2 cup
Carrots - 3
Potatoes - 2
Tamarind extract - 1 cup
Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt - for taste
Ghee - 3 tbl sp
Cashew nuts - few

For masala:

Coriander seeds(Dhaniya) - 3 tsp
Fenugreek(Vendhayam) - 1/2 tsp
Black gram dhall - 2 tsp
Bengal gram dhall - 1 1/2 tsp
Red Chillies - 10-15 according to your requirement
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cloves - 2
Grated coconut - 1 1/2 tbl sp

Method:

Cook dhall and rice together in pressure cooker by adding 6 cups of water.

Dice potatoes and carrots into small pieces and pressure cook them along with peas.

Fry all the masala ingredients except coconut in one tsp of oil till they turn light brown. Now add the coconut and fry for just a minute and powder it.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and fry the peeled onions for few minutes. Add tamarind extract to it and boil till the raw smell goes. Mix salt, asafoetida, cooked vegetables and powdered spices to it. Now add the cooked rice mixture and mix well till everything blends.

Heat ghee and fry the cashew nuts and garnish it on top of the bisibelabath.

Serve it hot with raw onions or onion raitha :) Potato chips goes great with it too :)

Yummy bisibelabath is ready. Happy making :)

Written by: Nithya
Send in your queries by clicking here.