Bisi bele bath
Preparation Time
13 minutes
Cooking Time
40 minutes
Difficulty Level
moderate
Meal Type
Lunch
Serves 4
Key Ingredients
- Sona masoori rice
About This Recipe
Bisi bele bath is the one-pot lunch of Karnataka homes and tiffin rooms. Everything meets in one pressure cooker: rice, toor dal, vegetables and tamarind water, with a roasted spice masala stirred through at the end. What makes it different from sambar rice is the masala, dry-roasted and ground at home, which colours the rice deep red-brown and carries the aroma.
The grain is sona masoori, which cooks soft into the dal the way the dish needs, and the vegetables are whatever is in the kitchen; carrot, beans, peas and potato are the usual four. Our guide to rice (chawal) covers the grain itself. COWBERRY's toor dal, chana dal, coriander seeds, cinnamon, cloves and turmeric all go into this pot. For a north-Indian one-pot of rice and dal, see the masala khichdi.
Water is the other decision: four cups go into the cooker with the rice and dal, and the fifth arrives as tamarind water after the pressure drops. That gives a bath that is thick but pouring, and it firms up as it sits. Add a teaspoon of jaggery with the tamarind if your tamarind is very sour.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
Bath
- Sona masoori rice — 1 cup
- Toor dal (arhar dal) — 1/2 cup
- Water for the cooker — 4 cups
- Mixed vegetables (carrot, beans, peas, potato), chopped — 2 cups
- Turmeric Powder — 1/4 tsp
- Salt — 1 1/2 tsp
Masala (dry-roasted)
- Coriander seeds — 1 tbsp
- Chana Dal — 1 tbsp
- Dried red chillies — 4 pieces
- Cinnamon, one inch piece — 1 piece
- Cloves — 4 pieces
- Fresh coconut, grated — 2 tbsp
Tamarind and tempering
- Tamarind pulp — 2 tbsp
- Hot water for the tamarind — 1 cup
- Ghee (1 tbsp for the tempering, 2 tbsp to finish) — 3 tbsp
- Mustard Seeds — 1 tsp
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Serving Suggestions
Serve the bath hot, ladled into bowls, with a spoon of the remaining ghee on top and boondi, fried papad or a raita beside it. It is a complete lunch on its own, and the soft, spoonable texture makes it an easy office lunchbox. For the cold cousin with curd, try the curd rice.
Tips for Cooking Bisi bele bath
Roast the masala on low heat until the coconut smells toasted; a burnt masala turns the whole pot bitter. Let the pressure drop on its own before opening, because the dal keeps softening during the wait. The tamarind goes in after the dal is soft, so its sourness stays bright, and the bath should look loose in the pot, since it thickens fast as it cools.
Chef’s Note
Mash a little of the dal against the side of the cooker as it simmers, and the bath takes on its creamy body. A serving comes to about 384 kcal, 9.6 g of protein and 4.1 g of fibre; the vegetables and the masala spices are not in these numbers.
Per serving (approx.): 384 kcal, protein 9.6 g, carbs 58 g, fat 12 g, fibre 4.1 g. Computed from IFCT 2017 / USDA values for the listed quantities. Measures: 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml.
Happy Cooking
!!
ByCOWBERRY
Jun 11, 2026
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