Grey Matter

Bisi bele Baath: Etymology- Hot Lentils (Paruppu) rice in Kannada and Tulu

We have a two part recipe for the preparation of Bisi Bele Baath : one is the powder that gives the unique flavor to the dish and the other is the actual preparation of the dish itself.

Part 1:(The powder)

It is customary to make this powder, store it and use it when ever required. And hence the following measures are for making a small bottle full of the powder.

Ingredients: (all are numbers,unless the units are specified. Tamil names are given within the braces)

Bay Leaf (Punnai Ilai): 2

Nutmeg (Jathikaai) : 2

Cinnamon (Pattai) : 5 rupee worth

Cardamom(Yelakkai): 6

Cloves(Lavangam): 8

Bengal Gram (Kadalai Paruppu): 200 gm

Black Gram (Ulutham Paruppu): 200 gm

Red Chilli (Molaga): 100 gms

Coriander Seeds (Dhaniya):100 gm

Black Pepper (Melagu) : 10 gm

Asafoetida (Perungayam): half katti

Fenugreek (Venthaiyam): 10 gm

Cumin Seeds (Seeragam): 10 gm

Curry Leaves (Karu vepilai): a hand full

Cooking Oil: little

Procedure:

After heating the oil in a pan, fry all the spices viz., cinnamon,nutmeg,cloves,bay leaves and cardamom and keep them seperately. In the same pan now fry rest of the ingredients, Pepper,Cumin seeds and curry leaves should be the last items to be added.

Keep this fried ingredients in Sun light for 15 mins and then powder them.

Part 2 (The Baath):(Serving 4-5 people)

Ingredients:

Rice (Arisi) : 2 Alakku

Red Gram (Thuvaram Paruppu): 1 Alakku

Tamarind (Puli) : 1 lemon size

Salt:As required

Turmeric Powder(Manjal thool): As required

Coriander Powder: 1/4 spoon

Chilli Powder : 1/4 spoon

Jaggery(Vellam): A lemon size

Carrot,Beans,Sambhar Onion, Green Peas,Potato – As much as you deem fit.

Coconut:1/2 (Kopparai thenga preferred)

Cashew nuts: as required

peanuts: as required

ghee:little

Procedure:

Soak the tamarind in water for some 10 to 15 mins.

Boil the Red gram, when the gram is 3/4th boilt, add the rice and 1 spoon of the above prepared masala powder and let the mixture boil for some more time until rice is boiled.

In a seperate vessel boil all the vegetables, except Sambhar Onion.

Pour little oil in a pan and fry the Sambhar Onion, after the onions are fried,add the soaked tamarind water (Puli thanni), Coriander powder, Chilli powder,Salt, Turmeric powder, Jaggery one by one and then add the boiled vegetables. Put 2 spoons of the above prepared masala powder to this vegetables mixture.

Now mix the boiled rice and gram with the vegetables mixture to make the baath.

Put some ghee to the frying pan add the scraped coconut, cashew nuts and peanuts and garnish the baath with this. Finally plant the coriander leaves on the baath.

It is not as difficult as everybody thinks it would be. At least not yet. But its only day two, five more days to go.

It was to do with some veg roll i had that Friday. That was so oily and yuck tasting. That’s when i decided i would quit junk food. At least for sometime.

By the time i reached home, I was wondering why not quit eating cooked food for some time.

Now that’s a big decision to take for a foodie like me. I usually eat more than one lunch box on any given day. I gulp anything thats edible and vegetarian.

But then any decision is never big enough. I decided to eat just uncooked food for a week. That means just vegetables and fruits. And that too not in the quantity that i usually have. But to use them as fuel to the body.

I announced this at home. And everybody was like stunned. I saw everyone’s face in slow motion. Giving mega serial effect. Nobody believed at first.  They thought this must be one of the pranks that I play.

But alas to everyone’s surprise i said no to breakfast!

Day one was over without much story to tell. I had an apple, an orange and few papaya pieces.

Day two is where the action is.

I started the day with some sprouted horse grams.

And they made chappathis and yummy graveys at home.  And followed this up with Bisibele Baath, payasam and some other sweet for lunch! apparently some guests were coming home.

And my friends called me for a lunch !

In between i had to say no to so many things including a remy martin cognac flavoured chocolate.

We went to Farmhouse in the ECR for the lunch. And i had just the vegetables – green and not even salt.

And when i return back home i see a sweets pack unopened. My mom offers me that. I had to say the nth NO for the day.

They are planning to make extravagant pongal varieties on the Pongal day just to tempt me. But then I am in no mood to change my plans as of now.

Will see what happens on that day

Two sandwiches,

Idiyappam with coconut milk,

A Medhu Vadai,

A Bar one,

Little bit of Masala Vadai,

A packet of ground nuts,sun flower seeds,gems and raisins,

Two boxes of Idlis,

A coffee,

A tea

2 Bajjis,

1 Kadalai Mittai,

6 murukkus,

A fruit- mix with badam milk,

And rice with pepper rasam and a pappad.

2 Bananas

All this is what i ate for a day!

Well actually i am on diet.

Finally after all these years i have discovered the best possible way to eat bitter gourd.(Pavakkai in tamil and hence hereafter referred to as Pavakkai)

God created pavakkai and brinjal to torture us human beings. Those are the two weapons my family used all these while against me. My mother would say “if you won’t get up early in the morning and read i will cook pavakkai for you”. My father would say “If he doesn’t come to this wedding function cook for him a brinjal curry in the night.”

It took a lot of rebeling from me for them to stop cooking brinjal. But pavakkai is still around since they say its a healthy vegetable.

When we all eat together i would make strategies for not eating pavakkai.I would collect all the pavakkai hide it under rice in a strategic place from which no one would know i have hidden the pavakkais.

I will start some conversation.When everybody is busy in animated converstation i would quickly put all the pavakkai under the plate and hide it.

I will collect all the pavakkai, state that i will eat it in the end along with curd rice and when no one notices quickly finish my curd rice,hide the pavakkai in the palms disguising with the plate and would take it to the sink along with the plate and dispose them off.

They all know that i don’t eat my share of pavakkai but i maintain that i am innocent until i am proven guilty.They are yet to find me red handed disposing the pavakkais.

When i read that the sides of your mouth doesn’t have taste buds for bitterness i got an idea.

I took the pavakkai completely surrounded with rice.So that no part of it touches my tongue.Inserted the ball to the left most corner of the mouth.Munched it in between the teeth and the side of my mouth,never allowing it to touch the tongue.And found a narrow passage at the back side right next to the last molar teeth to the food pipe and swallowed it through that. Wow! i didn’t taste that at all but yet ate PAVAKKAI.

After trying this out.I immediately called people in my house to demonstrate that i am eating pavakkai.