Toor dal and rice have varied cooking times. Dal takes a longer time to turn soft and cook well than rice.  It’s challenging to get both cooked well together. The quality of water you use impacts cooking time.  Both rice and lentils cook well with soft water, however, that’s not the case with hard water. The hardness of the water is the key factor that affects cooking time.  If you set the timer to way too long, say 15 or 20 minutes, no doubt the dal cooks well. However, the rice turns mushy.  The consistency of bisi bele bath must be soft like khichdi, but the rice has to have a texture. With such high cooking time, rice turns like a paste with no texture.  The trick to overcome this issue is to soak Toor dal in hot water for at least 20 to 30 minutes. The longer the dal is soaked, the better!