Bangalore, the IT capital of India, is a place where you can find all types of food from all over India. It may be because people from all over India come to Bangalore in search of jobs. So along with all other types of food, the Bangaloreans have their set of dishes which are very very famous. The most famous dishes being ‘ Chitranna ‘ and ‘ Bisi bele bhath ‘ (‘ Bisi ‘-hot, ‘ beLe ‘-lentil, ‘ bhath ‘-rice item. Bangalorians call it ‘bath’ instead of ‘ bhath ‘). One other thing I have observed about food in Bangalore is all their dishes are very easy and fast to prepare.
Though I was not a big fan of bisi beLe bhath available in hotels, I liked to try them always. The one which I loved the most was with poha. My friend Poornima used to bring this in her lunch box. This version of bhath is softer than the version with rice.
Bisi beLe bhath (with poha/avalakki)
Ingredients
- 1 cup poha/avalakki
- 3/4 cup toor daal
- 10 cups water
- 1/2 tea spn tamarind extract
- 2 tea spns Bisi bele bhath masala
- 1 tea spn jaggery optional
- 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
- 2 tea spns oil/ghee
- A pinch asafoetida
- 4-5 curry leaves
- 1/2 cup onion pieces
- A pinch turmeric
- 1/2 cup tomato
- 3/4 cup vegetables carrot, potato, beans
- 2 strands coriander leaves
- Salt
Instructions
- Heat approximately 8 cups of water.
- When it starts boiling, add toor daal and a pinch of turmeric.
- When daal is cooked, add vegetables (except onion and tomato).
- Cook till vegetables are done.
- Add washed poha.
- Cook for 2-3mins.
- Add bisi beLe bhath powder, tamarind (mixed with remaining two cups of water), jaggery and salt. Cook till almost all water is absorbed (the bhath should not become too dry, so stop when it is in semi solid state).
- In a separate pan, heat ghee/oil (ghee tastes better), add mustard.
- When they start popping, add curry leaves and asafoetida.
- Add onions and fry till they turn slightly brownish.
- Now add tomato and fry till they become slightly soft.
- Add this mixture to bhath and mix well.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
- Serve hot.
Notes
Bisi beLe bhath (with poha/avalakki)
Ingredients
- 1 cup poha/avalakki
- 3/4 cup toor daal
- 10 cups water
- 1/2 tea spn tamarind extract
- 2 tea spns Bisi bele bhath masala
- 1 tea spn jaggery optional
- 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds
- 2 tea spns oil/ghee
- A pinch asafoetida
- 4-5 curry leaves
- 1/2 cup onion pieces
- A pinch turmeric
- 1/2 cup tomato
- 3/4 cup vegetables carrot, potato, beans
- 2 strands coriander leaves
- Salt
Instructions
- Heat approximately 8 cups of water.
- When it starts boiling, add toor daal and a pinch of turmeric.
- When daal is cooked, add vegetables (except onion and tomato).
- Cook till vegetables are done.
- Add washed poha.
- Cook for 2-3mins.
- Add bisi beLe bhath powder, tamarind (mixed with remaining two cups of water), jaggery and salt. Cook till almost all water is absorbed (the bhath should not become too dry, so stop when it is in semi solid state).
- In a separate pan, heat ghee/oil (ghee tastes better), add mustard.
- When they start popping, add curry leaves and asafoetida.
- Add onions and fry till they turn slightly brownish.
- Now add tomato and fry till they become slightly soft.
- Add this mixture to bhath and mix well.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
- Serve hot.
Notes
During Konkani weddings, we make a set of sweet dishes. The most famous among them is ‘ ManDe/ chowde ‘(Konkani) or ManDige (Kannada). Usually the previous day of wedding (or same day as wedding, but before actual wedding), we do a pooja called as ‘ Sreemanth pooja ‘. (Some day in future, I will elaborate on all these functions). During this, 5 types of sweets are prepared. Mother-in-laws feed a bite of these sweets to their would-be Son-in-law or daughter-in-law. Usually for this occasion the sweets are made in huge size (a huge laddu , huge manDe , huge chiroti etc which look beautiful but cannot be finished by one person). There are other significances of manDe at weddings.
The other place where this dish has a lot of importance is ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’. This dish is prepared as an offering to god.
These days this dish is readily available in markets. So people prefer to buy it instead of making this dish at home.
When my mom gave me this recipe last week, I immediately knew I had to send it to Santhi’s JFI for flour event. I prepared this here and absolutely loved the taste. I had tasted this after ages (I don’t know how I missed this during my wedding and my brother’s wedding). This is a crispy, sweet dish.
Ingredients: 1 cup maida or all purpose flour 2 tea spn ghee ½ cup powdered sugar 1 tbl spn sesame seeds (white til ) ½ tea spn cardamom powder Oil for deep frying Salt a pinch
Method: Make hard dough with floor, ghee , salt and water. Take small balls of dough and roll it into medium sized chapathis (roll them into as thin as possible). Wash sesame in water and drain. Roast them on a tava (when roasted, sesame pops up). Do not burn them. Mix sugar and cardamom with sesame. Keep it aside.
Heat oil and deep fry the discs one by one. They should still remain white colored when fried. So don’t fry for long time. Just leave them in hot oil and immediately remove. Small bubbles appear on the surface indicating they are cooked. If kept for a longer time, they become stiff and cannot be folded. Spread the sugar mixture. It should be done when the fried discs are still hot, otherwise the sugar will not stick to them. Fold it into a triangle as shown below spreading the sugar mixture on all the folds.
Store them in airtight container. They remain good for at least 15 days, if stored properly.
Makes around 10 Preparation time: 40mins
I usually use the smallest possible vessel for deep frying, so that only little oil can be used for frying. This reduces the wasting of oil. I rolled them into a puri size, since I had used the small vessel.
