Bisi bele bath is ready-to-eat cooked rice. Tasty and nutritious, it can in fact be consumed without any accompaniments, since it has, within itself, all the ingredients that go into making sambar plus an assortment of vegetables, rice and spices.

Items required
Tamarind (the size of a small lemon)
12 red chillies
A pinch of asafoetida powder
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
3 tablespoons grated coconut
20gm cashewnut
3 tablespoons ghee
10french beans
4 carrots
1 knolkhol (small)
10 madras onions
2 tomatoes
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
4 cloves
A small piece cinnamon
4 cardamom
1/2 teaspoon aniseeds
1 cup (200ml) rice
1/2 cup (100ml) thoor dal
A pinch of turmeric powder
2 teaspoons mustard
A few curry leaves
A few coriander leaves
4 green chillies
Salt to taste
Oil for frying and seasoning
Preparation method
1.Soak tamarind in a little (say 100ml) of water and keep aside.
2.Fry 6 red chillies, asafoetida powder, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and grated coconut in a little oil until the fenugreek seeds turn golden brown in colour. Take out this fried mixture, grind into fine powder and keep aside.
3.Fry cashewnuts in 1 tablespoon of ghee until they turn golden brown in colour and keep aside.
4.Cut french beans and carrots into bite-sized pieces; as for knolkhol, peel it before cutting it. Madras onions being small, need only to be peeled. Quarter the tomatoes; keep all these vegetables aside.
5.Fry poppy seeds, clove, cinnamon, cardamom and aniseeds in a little oil, grind into a fine powder and keep aside.
6.Squeeze out the tamarind, retaining the tamarind and water solution.
7.Take rice and thoor dal in a vessel (ensure that the vessel fits into the cooker properly) with a capacity of atleast 3 litres; wash the rice and dal thoroughly and strain off the water.
8.Add the tamarind and water solution , the ground powder, turmeric powder and chopped vegetables to the rice and dal, mixture and mix well by hand to eliminate lumps.
9.Pour appropriate quantity of water into the cooker and bring the water to a boil; place the vessel in the cooker and pour 1 1/4 litre of water into the vessel. Close the lid of the cooker correctly.
10When steam issues steadily from the vent tube of the cooker, press down the weight valve reduce the flame to the minimum.
11.Shut off the flame when the first whistle issues from the cooker; it will take between 30 and 45 minutes, assuming that cooker is kepton ‘low’ flame as suggested above; putting the cooker straight onto a “high” heat may result in more whistles in a shorter time but it need not mean that the contents of the cooker have cooked properly; it is recommended that the cooker be put on a steady ‘low’ flame for 30 or 40 minutes for the first whistle to issue and the contents to cook well.
12.After the cooker cools,remove the weight valve, open the cooker and take out the vessel. If the cooked food, calledbisi bele bath, is too thick to your liking, thin it down to the required consistency by adding a little water.
13.Heat a little oil in a frying pan and add mustard, curry leaves, green chillies and the remaining 6 red chillies. Remove from fire when the mustard crackles and add to the bisi bele bath.
14.Add the fried cashewnuts, the powdered poppy seeds, etc. and salt (to taste) to the bisi bele bath, and mix well.
15.Add the remaining ghee, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
Serves 4.

Seasoned sambar is a Indian seasoning used to flavor stewed vegetables and sauces. The lentils in the blend give it a nutty flavor and serve as a thickening agent.

Items required
12 red chillies
1/2 teaspoon mustard
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
A pinch of asafoetida powder
4 green chillies
A few curry leaves
Tamarind (the size of small lemon)
100gm vegatable
Salt to taste
100gm thoor dal
1/2 teaspoon rice flour
A few coriander leaves
A pinch of turmeric powder
Oil for frying
Preparation method
1.Cook the dal and keep aside.
2.Take a thick-bottomed vessel with a capacity of atleast 1 litre and soak the tamarind in it in a little water and keep aside.
3.Cut vegetables into bite-sized pieces and; keep aside, or fry and keep aside or cook seperately, drain and keep aside, as the case may be.
4.Halve the red chillies and keep aside.
5.Slit the green chillies and keep aside.
6.Pour a little water on the rice flour so that if just dissolves; mix well so that it does not get lumpy and keep aside.
7.Squeeze out the tamarind and water solution; dilute this solution which 1/2 liter (500ml) of water.
8.Heat a little oil in a frying pan and add halved red chillies, mustard, fenugreek seeds and asafoetida powder; when the fenugreek seeds turn golden brown, add the reen chillies and curry leaves and saute a little and empty the entire contents of the frying pan into the vessel containing the tamarind and water solution.
9.Add the vegetable to the seasoned tamarind and water solution and simmer the solution until the vegetables is cooked and / or the aroma of tamarind subsides.
10.Empty the cooked dal into the simmering tamarind and water solutionand bring to a boil.
11.Add the rice flour and water solution to the boiling tamarind and water solution ans stir well; shut off the flame when the solution begins to thicken.
12.Add salt to taste and garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
Serve 4.

This “Dal usili curry” is a tasty and very healthy dish. High in protein and tastes excellent.It is a great and delightful Indian recipe.

Items required
1/4kg cluster beans or runner beans
75gm thoor dal
4 red chillies
1 teaspoon mustard
A pinch of asafoetida powder
Oil for frying
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon urd dal
A few curry leaves
Preparation method
1.Soak thoor dal in water and keep aside.
2.Chop the vegetables fine and keep aside.
3.After half an hour drain the dal and grind it into a coarse paste along with red chillies and asafoetida powder adding water sparingly.
4.Mix the vegetable with the paste (vide 3) and salt (to taste) and cook (without adding anymore water) in the cooker.
5.Heat oil in a saucepan and add urd dal and mustard. When the mustard crackles, add the cooked dal and vegetable mixtuer (vide 4). Fry well, adding a little more oil if required until the ingredients dry out and begin to crumble.
6.Garnish with curry leaves and serve hot.
Serves 4.

Potato Bonda is an evening snack with your tea or coffee. Potato is the main ingredients used to make this snack along with other ingredients and spices.

Items required
350gm potatoes
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
Juice of lemon
1 teaspoon mustard
2″ long piece ginger
4 green chillies
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida powder
A few curry leaves
A few coriander leaves
Cooking medium (oil)
375ml chenna dal flour
125ml rice flour
2 teaspoon chilli powder
A pinch of baking soda
Preparation method
1.Cook the potatoes, drain, peel and crumble them by hand into small piecesand keep aside.
2.Peel the ginger, chop fine and keep aside.
3.Chop the green chillies fine and keep aside.
4.chop the curry leaves and coriander leaves and keep aside.
5.Heat a little oil in a frying pan and add mustard; whenthe mustard crackles, add ginger (vide 2) and green chillies (vide 3) saute a little and add sauteed ingredients to the crumbled potatoes (vide 1).
6.Add also, asafoetida powder, curry leaves and coriander leaves, salt (to taste) , lemon juice (to taste) and turmeric powder to the crumbled potatoes; mix all the ingerdients together, roll into small balls and keep aside.
7.Mix together, channa dal flour, rice flour, salt (to taste), chilli powder, baking soda and a pinch of asafoetida powder; add a little water and prepare a thick batter.
8.Heat oil in a saucepan, dip the potato balls (vide 6) in the batter (vide 7) so that the former is uniformly covered with the batter and then cook to a reddish brown in oil as you would, in the case of Mysore Bonda.
9.Repeat the process in respect of the remaining potato balls and serve hot, with chutney.

Two varieties of Hog plums are grown. While one variety is as small as holly strawberry, the other is rather large-as large as goose berry.

Items required
1/2litre Hog Plum(large)
1/2 teaspoon Fenugreek seeds
1/4 teaspoon Asafoetida powder
Oil for seasoning and frying
1 1/2 teaspoon Mustard
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric powder
4 teaspoon Chilli powder
Preparation method
1.Wash the hog plums thoroughly, cut off the stalks, chop each of them longitudinally into two, discard the seeds, drain and keep aside.
2.Roast (that, is heat without using oil) the fenugreek seeds until they turn dark brown, grind into a fine powder and keep aside.
3.Heat oil in a sauce-pan and add mustard.
4.When mustard crackles, add hog plums (vide 1) and turmeric powder and fry.
5.When all the moisture in the hog plums evaporates and the hog plums begin to curl up, shut off the flame.
6.Add salt and mix well.
7.When the ingredients cool to room temperature, add chilli powder, powdered fenugreek seeds (vide 2) and asafoetida powder; mix well and serve.
Tip : Some more oil may be added, if needed, when the hog plums are being fried.