Tomato Rice Recipe-South Indian Style

Tomato rice recipe is another must on Mondays, as a formal dress, waking up for the alarm sound, little harder in waking up the kiddos. The Spicy Rice is almost like breaking the weekend mood. It can be prepared in many variations, but this one is little spicier version.

This recipe I got from my MIL, which MD likes it most. He can have tomato rice in his lunch box for all the weekdays, but with little variations. This very easy recipe and easy to follow. I have prepared this countless times where now I can make this by closing the eyes and with left-hand too. Haha.

This tomato rice recipe is a spicy version of rice with tomatoes, with a strong flavor. But beautifully the ingredients can be adjusted as per your taste.

Have you checked another interesting Mixed rice variety, Capsicum Rice?

How does this Tomato rice recipe taste like?

This is an authentic South Indian style tomato rice recipe, which is flavorful and tastes delicious. This rice is spicy with a bit of tang, with the aroma of cinnamon and cloves.

This rice is light and will not leave you heavy after eating it. So, it is the best food for the traveling and nondrowsy lunch box menu.

This spicy Indian rice is also called as ‘Thakkali sadam’ in Tamil. Where ‘thakkali’ means tomato and ‘sadam’ means cooked rice.

What to pair with this Indian spicy rice?

Since this tomato rice recipe is hot and spicy. Do not over think on this, just simply is more in here. It would be great to serve with mild sides dishes.

Egg: A perfect combination I would ever think of while writing this recipe. The eggs can be just boiled without any masala is perfect. Moreover, serving with egg is a way to add lean protein and is practically easy to handle.

Raita: Simple raita is splendid to serve with. Masala raita, pomegranate raita are some of the easy to make side dishes but tastes super great.

Yogurt: Or just serve with simple plain yogurt or curd.

How to store and reheat tomato rice

If you are thinking of make ahead of this tomato rice recipe, make the tomato base prior to the day of cooking. You can store this tomato base for upto a week in the refrigerator and for months in the freezer.

You need to thaw the frozen tomato base before reheating. You may thaw by transferring it to the refrigerator a day prior to cooking. Or microwave it for 2 or 3 minutes, depending on the quantity.

You can reheat the refrigerated tomato base on the stove top. for this, add the base and half the quantity of water. Bring it to boil and simmer the flame. Then mix with plain rice.

The tomato rice can be refrigerated, you can reheat by microwaving. Or on the stove top by stirring. But, on my experience microwaving retains the taste and the flavor. The stove top method is not upto my expectations.

Variations for Tomato rice recipe

• Instead of fresh ginger and garlic, you may use readymade ginger garlic paste.
• You may use garam masala powder also. This is would an aromatic variation, and also enhance the taste of tomato rice.
• You can cook the rice in your regular method. You can use Instant pot, pressure cooker or rice cooker, whichever you are comfortable with.
• you can also make it with basmati rice or your regular long grain rice.

How to make Indian Tomato Rice:

Make the tomato base: In a mixer grinder jar, add roughly chopped onion, tomato, ginger, garlic. And grind it to a smooth silky consistency. Do not need to add water, the water content of the tomato is enough for this.
A small tip: To get the perfect combo of onion with tomato, Check the quantity of tomato should be little more than the quantity of an onion, to get perfect taste and texture of this rice.

Seasoning: In the pan add 3 tablespoons of cooking oil, cinnamon, cloves, and fry till it becomes golden brown and starts leaving out the beautiful aroma.
You might be wondering why do we need this much of oil? Tomato rice tastes great with more oil. The cooking oil keeps the rice grain separate and tasty.

The spices: Add the ground paste, red chili powder, turmeric powder, and salt start cooking in the medium flame.
If it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, lower the flame further and add 1 teaspoon of oil further to this mixer.  
In the medium heat, cook this tomato gravy in the oil till oil separates and reaches thicker consistency. Now the base should be golden red in color.
Remove from the fire before it reaches a darker color.

Mix: Let the tomato base and rice to cool down to room temperature. Spread the cooked rice over a plate and allow it to cool down.

Then mix gently and carefully together, as the rice tends to become mushy when it is handled roughly.

Garnish with coriander leaves/cilantro.

South Indian Tomato Rice Recipe-Thakali Sadham

South Indian Tomato Rice Recipe-Thakali Sadham Author: Sujatha Muralidhar Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 25 mins Serves: serves 2

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Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 2 people

Calories: 248kcal

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp cooking Oil
• 1/2 inch Cinnamon
• 2 cloves
• 1 Onion Large size
• 2 Tomato medium size
• 1 inch Ginger
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp Salt or as required
• 2 tbsp cilantro /coriander leaves for garnishing

Instructions

• Grind onion, tomato,ginger,garlic together in the mixer/blender, to form a fine paste.
• In the pan add 3 tbsp of cooking oil, cinnamon, and cloves till it becomes golden brown and starts leaving a beautiful aroma.
• Then add the ground mixture, red chili powder, turmeric powder and salt, in the medium flame. If it starts stick to the bottom of the vessel, slower the flame further and add 1 tsp of oil further to this mixer.
• Cook this mix in the oil till it reaches thicker consistency, and golden red in color. Remove from the fire before it reaches darker color.
• Let it cool down to the room temperature.
• Add this to cooked rice with salt.
• Mix gently so that the rice coats well with the tomato base.
• Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.

Notes

• If it starts to stick to the bottom of the vessel, slower the flame further and adds 1 tsp of oil further to this mixer.
• Make sure the paste should not go darker in color or burnt in the bottom, this will bring the bitter taste to the rice. This can be overcome by stirring it occasionally and maintaining the flame and by adding little oil.
• Drizzle of Gingelly Oil can bring down the strong flavor if you feel it is too strong.
• To get the perfect combo of onion with tomato, Check the quantity of tomato should be little more than the quantity of an onion, to get perfect taste and texture of tomato rice.

Nutrition

Calories: 248kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 22g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 1196mg | Potassium: 422mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1450IU | Vitamin C: 22.8mg | Calcium: 36mg | Iron: 0.9mg

Course Lunch

Cuisine Indian

Keyword Indian tomato rice, Tomato rice recipe

Author Sujatha Muralidhar

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