Tomato Rice – easy and delicious rice dish

The tomato rice is one flavored rice preparation that I like to cook. The goodness of tomatoes, a handful of spices and this tasty dish is ready in no time. For me good cooking means smart cooking – tasty, healthy and quick.

Tomatoes are known to be a very healthy ingredient. The best part of tomatoes are they have added health benefits when cooked. The tomato rice with a raita, chicken curry and pappad is a quick lunch idea that is ready in less than an hour. A Sunday or holiday lunch special or when I am really short on time. I love the color that the tomatoes and a little kashmiri chilli powder can lend to this flavored rice.

This is the recipe for making the tomato rice in the pressure cooker (this is the way my mom always does it and each grain of rice comes standing separately from one another). It can also be made in a pan (cover and cook till the entire water dries up).

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice – 1 cup
Onion- 1 (finely chopped)
Tomatoes – 2 (medium sized, finely chopped)
Kashmiri chilli powder – ¾ to 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Cardamom(green)-2
Cloves -2
Bay leaf -1
Garlic 3-4 (crushed)
Curry leaves 8 to 10
Coriander/cilantro 1 -2 tbsp(finely chopped)
Oil – 1 tbsp
Butter – 1 tbsp (optional)
Water – 1.5 cups

Method:
1-Soak rice for 20-30 minutes in water. Drain the water and keep aside.
2- In the pressure cooker, Add the oil and butter, now add the garlic, cardamom, cloves and bay leaf. Saute.
3- Add in the onions and sauté till the onions turn soft.
4-Now add in the tomatoes and sauté till the tomatoes are well cooked. Add the chilli powder and continue to sauté for a minute or two.
5- Add the water, curry leaves, rice and salt. Mix well.Cover. When the steam starts to come put the pressure cooker weight and cook for exactly 10 minutes on low flame. Open the cooker only after 15 minutes. Leave open for 5-10 minutes till it cools slightly (or else will get mashed). Now take out in the serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.

Accompaniment: Onion-tomato raita, chicken/paneer/kofta curry and pappad.

This is my entry for Sanghi's event "Fall in Love(FIL)- Tomato".

Sanghi requires that a person be named to whom I would like to dedicate this.
Sanghi, I would like to however, make a small change here and dedicate it to two very special people in my life from whom I picked up the basics of my cooking - my mom and my mom-in-law. It is becoz of these two women who have played a special role in my culinary journey and my life that this blog and all my cooking adventures have become a reality. I would like to thank both of them for it and would from time to time include some of their wonderful dishes here.