Bisi Bele Bath (Sambhar Rice)

Ingredients:

  Rice - 1 cup
* Toor Dal (Split Red Gram) - 1/2 cup
* Carrots, cut to pieces - 2
* Beans, cut to pieces - A few
* Brinjals, cut to pieces - 2
* Potato, peeled & cut to pieces - 2
* Onions, peeled & chopped - 1
* Refined Oil - 4 tsp
* Tamarind, lemon sized, soaked - 1
* Turmeric Powder - A Pinch
* Asafoetida (hing) - A Pinch
* Salt to taste

Masala Ingredients

* Dry Red Chillies - 3
* Fenugreek Seeds - 1 tsp
* Coriander Seeds - 1 tbsp
* Coconut, grated - 1/4 cup
* Curry Leaves - 3 or 4
* Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
* Cashew Nuts - 5 to 6
* Green Cardamom - 2
* Cinnamon - 1
* Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp
* Chana Dal - 2 tbsp
* Urad Dal - 1/2 tbsp
* Cloves - 2

Method:

First cook the rice and toor dal together in the pressure cooker (add 4 cups of water) with the turmeric powder and required salt and keep aside.

Extract tamarind juice after soaking tamarind in 1 cup of water.

Cook all the vegetables with a little salt and keep aside. You can use pressure cooker with 2 to 3 cups of water to cook the vegetables.

Take a kadai(wok) and heat oil in it. Once it is hot sauté all the Masala ingredients (red chillies, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds, coconut powder, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, cardamom) till the mixture turn little reddish brown. Let it cool down and grind to a powder.

Add the tamarind juice to the cooked rice mixture. Add all the cooked vegetables also and return the rice mixture back to heat with hing, green coriander and salt. Mix well.

Heat the remaining oil, sauté the mustard seeds till they start spluttering. Remove and mix in the rice. Mix well again.

Roast the cashew nuts and garnish the rice dish with it.