Bisibela oats/Hot lentil oats

The three day celebrations of pongal with lots of callorie intake comes to an end. Hope everyone enjoyed the delicious sweet "Sakkarai Pongal". It is time to once again switch back to our regular diet. So why not try this oats recipe. I posted the traditional Karnataka dish using brown rice earlier in this space.  The daily task of making breakfast became easy with the use of Oats.I tried instant oats idli, oats oothappam, oats upma and  oats dosa. Oats help in keeping hunger pangs at bay by lowering "bad" LDL cholestrol levels and providing much needed fiber and protein content. With the growing awareness among young and old for healthy eating recipes with oats, adding lentils and vegetables will make this Bisibela oats a-one- meal dish.
I tried this sambar oats dish for breakfast. I made sambar and pressure cooked oats. Then mixed cooked oats and sambar which tasted like bisibelabhath. The texture of oats gave a slightly-runny-kichidi-like consistency and looked like bisibelabhath.  I wish every healthy eating enthusiast must experiment with oats for this nutritiousand tasty oats recipe.
I prepared sambar as usual but added more varieties of vegetables. I used more tuwar dal and less of tamarind extract. And the flavour of Aashirvaad sambar powder made the dish very unique. I used 1 1/2 times water for 1 measure of oats and pressure cooked for10 minutes.
I would like to suggest a few things while making this dish. Do not over cook the vegetables. If you like to use drumstick boil them separately for a while and add.The  vegetables like capsicum, carot can be had if they are crunchy. Do not allow the sambar to boil for long. Make sambar fresh and mix with cooked oats immediately. A cup of oats when cooked easily serves two persons. Take a portion of the cooked oats and mix with sambar in a bowl. The quantity of sambar should be liberally used while mixing with cooked oats. Mix separately the remaining cooked oats and serve hot with a dollop of ghee. Here is the recipe.

INGREDIENTS FOR SAMBAR

Thuwar dal/pigeon peas	1 cup
Small onion/shallots	10to15
Capsicum/bell pepper	1 (medium size)
Carrot	1 no
Drumstick	1no
Tomato	2no
Tamarind or tamarind paste	½ lime size or ½ tsp
Salt	to taste
Haldi	½ tsp
Sambar powder	2 tblsp

Tadka/Seasoning

Oil	2 tsp
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Methi seeds/fenugreek	½ tsp
Red chilli	2 no
Asafoetida	¼ tsp
Curry leaves	few
Coriander leaves	for garnish

Oats

1 cup

METHOD

Pressure cook thuwar dal and keep.

Pressure cook oats and keep.

Cut vegetables and soak tamarind in 1/2 cup water.

Heat oil and add mustard seeds, methi seeds, red chilli,curry leaves and asafoetida.

Add vegetables and saute.

Add haldi, little salt and sambar powder. Mix well and add 1/2 cup water.
Add cooked dal and bring to boil. Add tamarind extract and add little more salt.

Garnish with coriander leaves and remove.

In a bowl take required portion of the cooked oats and mix with a cup of  hot sambar.

Enjoy hot bisibela oats.