Bisi Bele Bhath

Bisi Bele Bhath is a complete meal by itself.  I sometimes make the spice paste & store it in the freezer in order to cut down on cooking time.

Ingredients:

2 cups white raw rice
1 cup toor dal
1/4 cups carrots, diced into cubes
1/4 beans, cut into 1"pieces
1/4 cup green peas
1/4 cup cauliflower
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
1 tsp haldi (turmeric) powder
6 cloves
1"cinnamon stick
1 tsp pepper corn
1/2 methi (fenugreek) seeds
6-8 dried red chillies
1/2 cup grated coconut
2 tbsp urad dal (black gram)
1 tbsp chana dal (bengal gram)
marble size tamarind
Seasoning:
2 tbsp oil/ghee
2 tsp black mustard seeds
6 green chillies, slit
cashew-nuts, handful
1 tbsp chana dal ( Bengal gram)
Curry leaves, 1 sprig

How it's made:

Wash tur dal & rice separately. Pressure cook until dal is well cooked. In a heavy bottom pot, add haldi & 6 cups of water to the rice. Let it boil, turn off heat. Add carrots, green beans, peas & cauliflower. Cover and set aside.
In the meantime, dry roast one ingredient at a time- coriander, jeera, cloves, cinnamon, pepper corns, methi, red chillies, coconut, urad dal and chana dal. Grind all ingredients to a fine paste along with tamarind.
To the rice & vegetable, add cooked dal & ground spice paste. Add salt to taste. Cook on medium high heat until all the ingredients are well blended together. ( maybe 10 mins). Keep stirring to avoid dal sticking to the bottom of pan.
In an iron griddle ( or non stick pan), add oil/ghee. When it heats, add mustard. Once it splutters, add green chillies, cashew-nuts, chana dal & curry leaves. Pour the seasoning on rice-dal mixture. Serve hot.
You can eat it just by itself or serve it with boondhi for a little crunch.

Serves: 10 people