Masale Bhat Recipe

Masale bhat is an easy, delicious, one-pot Indian vegetarian meal. Made with a melange of vegetables, like potatoes, cauliflower, peas, and Indian spices. This traditional Maharashtrian rice preparation is an amazing mix of spicy flavors and texture. Perfect to serve as one pot Vegetarian dinner! 

 Masale Bhat is a popular Maharashtrian spiced rice dish which literally means spicy rice. Proper comfort food and a gluten-free vegetarian meal that can be prepared in less than 30 minutes.

You can enjoy this healthy vegetable masala pulao for lunch or dinner. Or you can even pack it in a lunch box for kids or the office lunch box. The best part is this vegetarian, one-pot rice recipe is super easy and quick to make.

It is a quick rice recipe to make breakfast or lunch. The flavorful taste of Masale Bhat gets its unique taste from a special masala, known as goda masala. Follow the recipe to make this spicy and flavourful, Nutritious one-pot Indian meal in minutes.

This is one of the very popular Maharashtrian meals mostly served in Maharashtrian weddings and festivals. Traditionally masale bhat is cooked using brinjal, ivy gourds (tendli or tondli), peas

But The best part about this spicy rice dish is, it is highly customizable. So you can add your favorite vegetables and it will still taste delicious and amazing each time. 

To make Masale Bhaat I have used cauliflower, carrots, and peas. You can make it with your favorite vegetables. Just make sure not to use extra watery ones like cabbage or cauliflower as they tend to become soggy.

Best Rice for Masale Bhaat

Ingredients For Masale Bhaat

You need very few ingredients for masala bhat. All of these ingredients for making this spiced rice recipe are easily available. 

Grain- Basmati rice

Vegetables- Carrot, Peas, and Cauliflower

For Masala: Tomato,  onions, green chilli, ginger, fresh coriander or cilantro

Fat - Peanut oil or vegetable oil

Whole spices: Bay leaf, Cinnamon, Cloves, Black Peppercorns

Spices and seasonings- asafoetida/hing Turmeric Powder, Red chilli powder, Garam Masala, and salt to taste.

Instructions -How to Make Masala Bhaat

• Heat oil in a pan and add bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorn, asafoetida, ginger, green chili, and coriander. (pic 1,2,3)
• Stir for a minute and add onions.
• Saute the onions till they are translucent or light brown. Then add turmeric powder, red chili powder, goda masala, garam masala, and sprinkle salt to taste. Roast the spices till they are aromatic. (Photo 3,4,5)
• Add tomato, peas, cauliflower, and carrots. (Photo 6) 

Mix it so that the spices are well coated with the vegetables. Cook for a minute and add rice in it. (Photo 1,2)

Mix the rice with the vegetables. Pour water and cover the pan with a lid. Cook for 10-1 minutes. (Photo 3,4,5)

Take off the lid and check if the rice is cooked. When done, add a generous squeeze of fresh lime and a good measure of freshly grated coconut and serve hot.

How to make Goda masala at home

On your request on my IGTV video recipe, I have listed down the ingredients to make Goda Masala for Masale Bhat. 

Goda Masala is not very spicy and you can make it by dry roasting basic spices. To make Goda Masala you need cumin seeds, poppy seeds, dried coconut, coriander seeds, cloves, black peppercorns. Blend them to make a powder and keep them in an airtight container.

Making masala bhaat in Pressure Cooker

To make spicy Masale Bhaat in the cooker, follow the recipe ingredients. Saute the onion, roast the spices and cook the vegetables in the cooker. Add rice, add water, and cook till 2 whistles. Masala Bhat is ready to serve.

Recipe Notes and Tips to make Best Masale bhaat

• Traditionally, this recipe is made in Indrayani rice, Maharashtrian popular grain. It is very sticky. If you wish you can make it with Indrayani rice too. 
• If the rice is uncooked then pour some hot water and continue cooking it.
• To bring out the flavors in Masale Bhat, roast the spices in oil first. Try not to use water while roasting the spices. This will bring out the delicious flavor of Masale Bhat. 
• If you do not have goda masala, you can substitute that with pav bhaji masala. The taste is not the same but it still tastes nice and delicious.
• You can add garlic if you like that.
• You can skip onion and garlic both to make No Onion No garlic Version of masale bhaat. 

Variations of Masale Bhaat

Skip every vegetable and use only brinjals to make delicious Vangi bhaat. Use Ivy gourd to replace all vegetables to make Tendli bhaat or Tondle bhaat. 

Substitutions

Usually, short-grain rice like ambe mohar or kali jeera is used to make masale bhat.  But, sometimes I make it with whichever variety is available. This time due to lockdown I used my favourite long grain basmati. But feel free to use your favourite variety of rice. Just do not use over starchy ones though.

Serving Suggestions

This spicy rice dish is popularly served with varan and matha. Varan is again a spicy Maharashtrian dish cooked with tuvar dal and moong dal. And, matha is spiced buttermilk or chaas. 

You can serve it with curd or pickle too. But, if you have Chaas that's great. As it balances, the spice of Masale Bhat is great for summers. 

More One Pot rice recipes to try

Tava Pulav

Gatta Pulao

Bhuni Khichdi

Tahri (Spicy Veggie Rice)

Chickpeas Pulao

Vaghareli Khichdi

Paneer Biryani

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📖 Recipe