This is my husband's favorite dish. I believe my father-in-law used to make this during weekends as they were growing up and he says until today no one could make it like him. There are always some dishes that we can never make as well as our mother or father in this case, or grandparents. Brings nostalgia, isn't it. Well after trying many recipes, I finally asked my sister-in-law and she said this ones is close, but not quiet like their father.
For me, this is a very healthy dish. It has dal and vegetables, all in one. The other best thing is that I just have to make this one dish, fry some papads and be all done, it can't get any easier than this during the weekends :-)
Ingredients:
1. 1 cup of chopped potato (about 2)
2. 1 cup of chopped beans (about a bunch)
3. 1 cup of chopped carrots (about 2-3)
4. 1/2 cup of chopped bell peppers (1 or 1/2 bell pepper, any color)
5. 1 cup of chopped tomatoes (about 2)
6. 1 cup rice
7. 3/4 cup toor dal
8. 1/4 cup peanuts
9. 1 tspTurmeric
10. Small lemon size tamarind
11. 1 -2 tsp of red chilli powder
For poopu/tadka:
1. 1 tsp mustard seeds
2. 1 tsp cumin seeds
3. Hing/Asafoetida
4. Curry leaves
5. 3 tbsp of oil
For the masala paste:
1. 1 tsp urad dal
2. 2 tbsp channa dal
3. 3 tsp coriander seeds/dania
4. 1 tsp cumin
5. 2 cloves
6. 2-3 cardamon
7. 2 inch cinnamon pieces
8. 3-4 red chillies
9. 3-4 methi seeds
10. 1/4 dry coconut or about less than 1/2 cup pieces
Method:
Soak tamarind in hot water, while you are working on the others. Wash and cook the rice, dal and peanuts in pressure cooker with turmeric. The ratio of water will be 3 cups of water for each cup of rice/dal/peanut. For my above mentioned portion, I used 6 cups of water. While the rice is cooking, prepare the bisibelle bath paste. Roast the dals first with just a spoon of oil, then add the rest of the ingrediens one after the other. You can also fry them separately. Finally fry the coconut and once they are cool, grind them all into a paste with a little water.
Now in a pan, do tadka. Heat oil, fry mustard seeds and once they splatter add cumin, then hing, then curry leaves. Now first add bell peppers/capsicum. Ater frying them a litle bit, add the other vegetables, add salt and mix well. You can now add the tamarind water and the paste. Mix everything well, close the lid and cook well until the vegetables are cooked. Or you can also add them back to the rice/toor dal in the cooker and cook it for one more whistle. I cooked them all together in the cooker because you will be sure that everything cooked well. Once it is done, optionally you can add one or two spoons of ghee and mix well. I don't usually do that. Serve hot with papads.
