Rice, Onions, Tomatoes — Shouldn’t Be That Difficult to Guess
I left on a cliffhanger in the last blog about the dish I’ve cooked for this month’s blog. If you have no clue what’s going on, go read the last blog.
Honestly, I’ve no clue about the inspiration of this recipe. My mom has learned it from someone or somewhere and regularly makes it at home. And I absolutely love it.
The dish is tomato rice!
From what I know, tomato rice is a South Indian dish. Tamil, I guess. So, if anyone from Tamil Nadu reads this and finds this inaccurate and not authentic, my sincere apologies. Please correct me in the comments. I’d love to learn about the authentic taste and methods of making it.
I adore the cuisine from the south of India. I was blown away by the chutneys, ghee podi idli, onion uttapam, and sakkarai pongal at Murugan Idli Shop in Chennai. If you ever visit Chennai, Murugan Idli Shop is a must.
Okay, coming back to tomato rice, here’s how I cooked it. I have littered the recipe with hacks that’ll change the way you cook similar recipes. You can thank me later, maybe after reading the blog ;)
Ingredients That You’ll Need
Tomato Rice is quite a simple recipe with basic, readily available ingredients. It is a rice dish. So, rice is the primary ingredient, duh.
But I have listed everything you need to make life easier. There you go:
- 1 cup rice
- 3 medium tomatoes
- 2 small/medium onions
- 1 small/medium green bell pepper
- 2 medium spicy green chilli
- Curry leaves
- 1 teaspoon jeera
- A pinch of hing
- 1–2 teaspoon sambhar masala
- A pinch of urad daal
- Coriander sprig
- Turmeric
- Red chilli powder
- Salt
- Crushed black peppercorns
If you are cooking for two adults with an average appetite, this will do. I cooked it for me and my mom. And the quantity was more than enough. If you are cooking for more, adjust the measurements accordingly.
Remember, cooking is not about measurements of specific ingredients. It is all about the ratios.
Do This Prep, and It’ll Be Smooth Sailing
Chopping & Cutting
One Tomato — very finely diced
Two tomatoes — fine puree in a food processor
Onions — long, thin slices
Green bell peppers — long, thin slices
Green chillies — Finely chopped
Coriander sprig — finely chopped
Bunch the onions and green chilies together. They’ll go into the pan together. Wash the curry leaves and keep them aside. And we’re done with the preparation for this dish.
Preparing the Rice
We want the rice to be fluffy and not sticky. To do that, you must remove as much starch from the rice as you can. So, the first step of this recipe is to wash the rice thoroughly till the water runs clear. You can use a colander.
Once washed, soak the rice in water for 20–25 minutes. Don’t soak it more than that. If you aren’t using it immediately, strain the rice and put it aside for further use. I always set a timer on my watch while doing this.
What’ll happen if I soak it for too long you ask? Because the rice grain has become too soft, it’ll break and become mushy when you cook it.
Cooking the Rice
I learned this method of cooking rice from Chef Ranveer Brar. So all credit goes to him.
We start by boiling 1 liter of water in a large container. Add a spoonful of salt. That’ll season the rice perfectly. Wait for the water to come to a roaring boil. Once up to a roaring boil, keep the flame high and add the rice.
Let the rice cook on high flame for 2 minutes. That’ll help with the elongation of the rice grain. After 2 minutes, turn down the flame and let it cook for 2–2.5 more minutes. This time can vary and will depend on your rice. My rice takes 2–2.5 minutes. Again, a timer will help.
Check if the rice is almost cooked. We don’t want them fully cooked, or else they’ll stick.
Drain the rice and immediately run them under cold water to stop the cooking process.
Let it cool, and keep it aside.
Let’s Cook ;)
No fuss, let’s get into it straight away.
In a pan, add oil and ghee and let it come to temperature. Once hot, add jeera, hing and urad daal. As soon as the jeera sputters, add curry leaves. Once the curry leaves sputter, add onion and green chili. Add a bit of salt and let the onion turn translucent. We don’t want brown/golden brown onions.
Add the bell pepper once the onions are partially done. Add a bit of salt and crushed black peppercorns. We want to season the dish on every step. Don’t miss it.
A little salt at each step goes a long way. It lends even seasoning and flavor to the dish.
Once the bell peppers are partially cooked, almost 70%, add the tomato puree and a bit of salt. Turn up the heat and reduce the puree till the oil separates from it. Add a pinch of turmeric, red chili, and sambhar masala. Quantities depend on how spicy you want it to be. I like my food to have a little zing to it.
Once the smell of the rawness of turmeric is gone, add the cooked rice and the finely chopped tomatoes. Stir it gently so that the rice doesn’t break. Now let it cook for 5–7 minutes on low flame with a covered lid.
Check for salt. If needed, add very little and taste again. Once you are happy with the seasoning, the rice and masalas are gel, add the coriander sprig. Turn off the heat and let it rest for 5 mins.
When you let the rice rest, its structure strengthens. It doesn’t break or become mushy.
Stir it gently and serve hot. If you’re wondering what the end product looked like, check the cover image of this story!
Thoughts?
I’m in love with tomato rice. In fact, I’m in love with anything involving rice. I’m from Gujarat, but my family always jokes around me that I should’ve been born somewhere in the south of India.
So, what are your thoughts on this recipe? Do let me know. Looking forward to the comments about the authenticity of the dish!
Next week…
I’ll write about something exotic-feeling, something extraordinary, yet super simple to make. If you like what you read, consider following me. I’ve got a lot more blogs to come.
Stay tuned.
Until then, happy cooking!
