Bisibele Bath

Ah, the days of meal-for-one are back! But unlike eating just some vegetables under the pretext of salad, or a fruit calling it diet, I’ve decided to eat something substantial yet light for dinner. But then, cooking for one person is always a big pain. First its the quantity. No matter how less you make it, you will notice that its too much to eat for one person. Then its the taste. Only you know how it tastes. This is certainly a good point when an experiment goes bad, but in my case where 9/10 experiments are edible and tasty, I will have no one to compliment the food. And if the food is not complimented, I don’t feel the interest to cook again! (There, you’ve been notified on what to do, if you were to eat something I cook! :))
Tonight, I was in a mood to eat something rice-based, but not elaborate. Something like a one-pot-dish but not as boring as Khichdi. A friend suggested I make Bisibele bath, and that’s when I realized I hadn’t made it in a zillion years. And being a Kannadiga/Mangalorean, its something I should be ashamed of. See, you should always eat what you’ve grown up eating, and Dal and curry are not what I ate growing up… It was coconut-vegetable-filled delicious Mangalorean stuff that I ate till I was 22, and random, unmentionable, yucky, unhealthy hostel/hotel food till I was 25, and since then its just been pappu (dal) , koora (curry) every single day. EVERY single day. Phew! So every opportunity to cook non-dal-curry food is savoured and enjoyed to the hilt , and that opportunity comes mostly when the husband is not around! :-)
Back to BBB, I always have this Mom-made-awesome-BBB powder handy in the fridge, and all I had to do was to find the veggies in there. Turns out I’ve been living like a hermit feeding only on air, because the fridge had none of them. Yes, I am hopeless that way! Some rummaging in it revealed one capsicum and some spring onions, and thankfully some green peas. And I set about to make myself some tasty dinner…
Ingredients1/2 cup Toor dal (preferably soaked for atleast 30 mins)
1/4 cup Rice
1 cup Veggies
2 tbsp BSB powder (You can use MTR BBB powder)
1 tbsp Tamarind paste (Dabur Hommade to the rescue, Mom for me!)
1 tsp oil, to slightly fry the veggies
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
Salt – To taste

Garnish (Tadka)1 tbsp Ghee (clarified butter)
Some nuts – Cashew or peanuts
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Urad Dal
1 tsp Chana dal
1 tsp Jeera (Cumin seeds)
Some Hing (asafoetida)

InstructionsIn a pan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil and add the dal and rice to this. Close the pan and keep an eye on it. Wait till they are both half-cooked.
Meanwhile, cut the veggies, and fry them slightly in the oil. Add one tbsp BBB powder to this mixture, and fry a bit more.
Once the rice and dal mixture is half-cooked, add the half-fried veggie mixture to this, rest of the BBB powder , tamarind paste, turmeric and salt.
Add 1 cup water and cook this mixture till the water is absorbed or the veggies and rice-dal are cooked.

In a smaller pan, heat the ghee, add the nuts, urad and chana dals first. Wait till they are almost brown and add the mustard and cumin seeds. Switch off the stove, and add the hing to this.

Add this Tadka mixture to the cooked Bisibele Bath.
Bisibele Bath literally means Hot-Dal-Rice and hence this should be served hot.

You could eat it with Boondi or Potato chips, or also with Raita. 

Since I prefer raita to the other two options, I made myself a cup of onion raita, garnished it with dried mint leaves and had a very tasty healthy dinner!