Karnataka dishes
Beaten rice/Avalakki Bisibele bhath
Ready to serve Avalaki bisibele bhath
Time taken – 1 hour
Serves 6-8 persons
Bisibele bhath is the quint essential dish of south karnataka. It is prepared with toor dal and rice in combination with veggies and the masala which makes the dish turn delecious. I have already put it up a couple of years ago. Today i would like to put up this dish with a variation by replacing rice with beaten rice, the other ingredients being the same. Here it goes:
What you need to have:
1. Pigeon pea dal/Toor dal – 1 cup
2. Beaten rice/Avalakki medium – 2 cups
Toor dal & Beaten rice
Other ingredients of the dish:
1. Chopped french Beans – 1/2 cup
2. Chopped carrots – 1/2 cup
3. Chopped Ashgourd – 1 cup
4. Chopped onions – 1/4 cup
5. Chopped potatoes – 1/3 cup
6. Fresh/frozen green peas – 1/2 cup
7. Peanuts – A handful
Chopped veggies & Peanuts
Ingredients of Seasoning:
1. Mustard seeds – 1 Teaspoon
2. Blackgram dal – 1 Teaspoon
3. Red chili pieces – 4-5
4. Curry leaves – 4-5
6. Cashewnuts – A fistful
7. Peanuts – A fistful
Ingredients of Seasoning
Ingredients of Garnishing & others:
1. Fresh grated coconut – A handful
2. Chopped cilantro – A handful
3. Mixture or sev – As needed
4. Bisible bhath powder – 4 Tablespoons(refer to my powder recipe)
5. Tamarind pulp – 1 Teaspoon
Ingredients of Garnishing & others
What you do with what you have:
1. Wash and cook Toor dal and chopped veggies in the cooker till soft.
2. Wash and drain water from beaten rice and keep it aside.
Water drained from Beaten rice
3. Place a wide skillet with 2 teaspoons of cooking oil in it on medium flame. On heating add mustard seeds to it. When it starts spluttering add blackgram dal to it. When fried add cashew, peanuts to it. When being fried add red chili pieces and curry leaves to it.
Seasoning in progress
Seasoning in full swing
4. When done, add cooked dal-veggie mix and stir well. Now add bisibele bhath powder, tamarind pulp , salt and soaked and drained beaten rice from step-3 to it and give a strong stir with a wooden spatula adding required quantity of water to bring it to the required consistency checking for salt.
Veggie dal mix, Beaten rice,bisibele bhath powder, tamarind pulp, salt being added
5. When hot itself transfer it to a serving bowl garnishing with cilantro, fresh grated c a dash of butter and mixture or sev.
Ready to serve Avalakki bisibele bhath
Avalakki bisibele bhath being garnished
Time taken : 1 hour
Serves: 6-8 people
Note:
1. Always use quality dal and fresh veggies for best results.
2. I have used home made powder for the dish. Please refer to my recipe here.
Foxtail millet idli/Navane idli
Ready to serve Foxtail millet idli with chutney & chutney powder
Makes -20-24
Serves – 4-5 , Time taken – 20 minutes
Foxtail millet/Navane is cooked like rice in the regions of Telengana. A generation back this was the common food of the region and now is making a come back as it is more healthier than rice.One can pressure cook like rice and consume it with dal and a small quantity is very filling.
It is non allergic and is good for every one especially for diabetics and babies too as it is easily digestible . This has a nutty flavour and is more beneficial than in consuming than the risk involved.
I have already put up Foxtail millet dosa and today i would like to put up idli to add to the long list of idli on this blog. Here it goes:
What you need to have:
1. Blackgram dal – 1/2 cup
2. Rice sujee – 1 cup
3. Foxtail millet rava – 1 cup
4. Salt – to taste
Ingredients of Foxtail millet idli
What you do with what you have:
1. Soak blackgram dal in water for about 3 hours. Also wash and soak foxtail millet in water for about 1/2 an hour. Drain and dry on a dry cotton cloth. Grind it into coarse sujee in the mixer and keep it aside as shown in image-1.
2. Grind blackgram dal in the mixer/grinder adding water in steps to a fine and thick consistency. Transfer it to a wide bowl and add rice sujee, salt and also foxtail millet sujee to it.
Rice sujee, foxtail millet sujee& salt being added to the grind dal batter
3. Give a strong stir with your hands and the idli batter is as shown in the image below.
Grind foxtail millet idli batter
4. Allow the batter to ferment over night and is as shown in the image below.
Fermented foxtail millet idli batter
Ingredients of Seasoning :
1. Mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
2. Bengalgram dal- 1/2 teaspoon
3. Curry leaves – 1 sprig
4. Ginger paste – 1/2 teaspoon(just to mix it to the batter)
5. Place a spatula with 1 teaspoon of cooking oil in it on low/medium flame. When heated add mustard seeds to it. When it starts spluttering add benglgram dal to it. When it is fried add curry laves to it and add this seasoning to the idli batter and also add grated ginger paste to it.
Seasoning in progress
Seasoning & grated ginger paste being added to idli batter
6. Place a wide idli steamer on the flame with 2-3 cups of water in it. In the mean time Greece the idli mould and pour the idi batter in it and set the stand . When the water in the steamer starts boiling place the idli stand and close it with a lid. Steam for about 15 minutes. Prick it with a knife or back of spoon to come out clean to know it is done.
Foxtail millet idli being steamed
7. Transfer cooked idli to a serving plate and enjoy with any chutney and chutney powder or sambar of your choice. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . These idlis are as soft as the normal ones and tasty too!!!!
Ready to serve Foxtail millet idli with chutney & chutney powder
Note: 1. Grind blackgram dal to a thick paste adding water in steps.
2. Buy quality dal for soft and fluffy idli.
3. I make rice sujee also at home with sona masoori rice and push it in the refrigerator to retain the quality as the idli sujee available is not so good.
4. If the batter is not fermented idli will turn hard.
Dill leaves Sujee upma
How long it takes: 45 minutes
Number of servings: 2-3
Dill leaves is Sabbasgi soppu in Kannada. I have already put up a few dishes like the Dill leaves Poha upma, Chithranna, spicy and sweet idli and today it is the Sujee upma with dill leaves instead of the normal upma. One would think the Dill leaves means pungent odor, but let me assure you with the other ingredients in place, the dish brings out the best in Dill leaves. This is one reason to try out Dill leaves if you never have done so before.
What you need to have:
1. Upma Sujee – 1 cup
2. Chopped dill greens – 2 cups
3. Green peas – 1 cup
Fresh dill leaves & green peas
Ingredients of seasoning:
1. Chopped onions – 1 cup
2. Mustard seeds – 1 Teaspoon
3. Blackgram dal – 1 Teaspoon
4. Green chili – 3-4
5. Curry leaves – 2 sprigs
6. Cashews – 8-10
7. Turmeric powder – 1 Teaspoon
8. Cooking oil – 1 Tablespoon
9. Lemon juice – 1 Teaspoon
10. Salt – as per taste
Ingredients of seasoning
What you do with what you have:
1. Wash, peal and chop onions lengthwise, slit onions and keep aside as shown in the image. Wash, clean and chop dill greens too and keep it aside.
2. Place a skillet with Sujee in it on medium flame. Dry roast the same for about 10 minutes till you get a pleasant aroma and taking care to see that it is not burnt. Just transfer it to another bowl and keep it aside.
Sujee being dry roasted
3. Place the same skillet with 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in on medium flame. When it is heated add mustard seeds and blackgram dal to it. When it splutters dal also will be done and then add slit green chili and curry leaves to it. Also add cashews to it and fry till crispy. Add turmeric powder, chopped onions and also required quantity of salt to it and fry till transparent.
Seasoning in progress
4. When done, add chopped dill greens and green peas to it and cook till done closing the dish with a lid for about 5 minutes.
Dill greens & green peas being added
5. In the mean time do boil 2 cups of water on the other burner. When cooked soft add roasted sujee from step-2 to it and also add boiling water simmering the flame. While the sujee is being cooked and the peas too along with it.
Roasted sujee being added
Boiling water added to the upma mix
Ingredients of garnishing:
1. Fresh grated coconut – A handful
2. Chopped cilantro – A handful
3. Lemon juice – 1 teaspoon
Ingredients of garnishing
6. When done add chopped cilantro, fresh grated coconut and give a stir. Check for salt and finally while serving add a dash of lemon juice too! As you would with any Upma, enjoy this with Chivda/mixture !
Upma being garnished
A closer view of the dish
Good to remember::
1. One must dry roast sujee till you get a pleasant aroma and make sure it is not burnt adjusting the flame as per the size of the burner.
2. Use fresh dill leaves for the dish.
3. Quantity of dill leaves depends on your taste, so try with smaller quantities as above and then experiment!
4. I sometimes like adding sugar to this dish – sort of gives a sweet-strong flavor.
Madhur vade
Makes – around 25
How long it takes: 1 hour
Madhur vade is named after a small place in between Bangalore-Mysore. When we travel by intercity train even now when train stops at Madhur, a much anticipated station where the platform vendors came up with this wonderful vada served with spicy mint chutney. I have been waiting to put this up for years now and finally came to fruition today. The recent heavy rains provided the ideal setting to enjoy this.
What you need to have:
1. Chopped onion – 1 cup
2. Chiroti sujee – 1/2 cup
3. Rice atta – 2 tablespoons
4. Maida – 1/2 cup
5. Curry leaves – 8-10
6. Green chili -3-4
7. Chopped cilantro – a handful
8. cooking oil – 1/4 cup
9. salt – to taste
11. water- around little less than 100 m.l
Ingredients of madhur vade
Other ingredients of the dish
What you do with what you have:
1. Wash, peel and chop onions, green chili, cilantro and curry leaves fine and keep it aside.
2. Place a spatula with chopped onions in it adding 2 teaspoons of cooking oil to it on medium flame also adding a little salt and fry it till it turns transparent.
Chopped onions being fried in oil
Onions fried till transparent
3. Sieve both atta in the sieve, add sujee, fried onions, chopped cilantro, curry leaves, chopped green chili and transfer all to a wide bowl.
All ingredients in a bowl
4. Mix all the ingredients adding water too in steps checking for salt to bring it to the consistency of chapati dough and keep it aside for about 30 minutes. Make small lemon size balls and pat it with the edge of your palm to 3″ size even discs on a thick plastic sheet.
Flattened disc on a plastic sheet
5. Place a deep skillet with 2 cups of cooking oil in it. On heating add patted discs at 3-4 in batches and fry flipping it too till light brown and crispy. Transfer it to a serving plate and enjoy with a cup of tea and chutney which I am posting shortly.
Madhur vade being fried in oil
Madhur vade being fried till brown
A closer view of the dish
Good to remember:
1. Quantity of water depends upon the thickness of sujee. So add water in steps and can sprinkle if needed later. One can even use upma sujee for the dish but adjust the water quantity accordingly.
2. The dough consistency should be such that it should not break while prior to frying.
3. Madhur vade should always be fried on medium flame.
The Indian Food Court 
