Tomato Rice is a South Indian rice dish from Tamil Nadu, also known as Thakkali Sadam. It is made with rice cooked in a spiced tomato masala base tempered with mustard seeds, curry leaves, herbs, and spices. Tangy and mildly spicy, this one-pot meal is commonly served with raita or papad.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 20 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: South Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 heaped cup basmati rice (or any regular rice)
  • water (– as required)
  • 1 cup or 3 medium (200 grams) tomatoes (– finely chopped & tightly packed)
  • ⅓ cup or 1 medium-sized onions (– finely chopped)
  • 1½ teaspoons ginger garlic paste (or 1 inch ginger + 5 to 6 small to medium garlic crushed in a mortar)
  • ½ teaspoon green chilli (– chopped or swap with serrano pepper)
  • ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 4 to 5 fenugreek seeds ((methi seeds), optional)
  • ½ inch true cinnamon
  • 2 green cardamoms
  • 2 to 3 cloves
  • 6 to 7 curry leaves ((medium-sized))
  • ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper powder (or crushed black pepper)
  • ½ teaspoon coriander powder ((ground coriander))
  • 1 teaspoon cumin powder ((ground cumin))
  • ½ tablespoon mint leaves (– chopped)
  • ¼ cup coriander leaves (– chopped (cilantro))
  • 1½ to 1¾ cups water (or add as required)
  • 2 tablespoons oil (– any neutral oil)
  • salt (as required)

Method

Preparation

  1. Rinse basmati rice or any regular rice for a couple of times in water.
  2. Then soak the rice in water for 20 to 30 minutes. Later drain the rice and keep aside.
  3. Chop the tomatoes, onions and green chillies finely. Peel and crush the ginger-garlic in a mortar pestle. Also, chop the mint and coriander leaves
  4. Keep aside all the spices required for the rice.

Sautéing Onions, Tomatoes, Spices

  1. In a 3 litre stovetop pressure cooker, heat the oil. Keep the heat to a low and add mustard seeds and crackle them.
  2. Next add fenugreek seeds and just lightly fry for a couple of seconds without burning them.
  3. Next add finely chopped onions and cinnamon, cardamoms and cloves.
  4. Stir and sauté until the onions turn translucent and soften.
  5. Add the ginger-garlic paste, chopped green chilies and curry leaves.
  6. Stir and sauté for some seconds until the raw aroma of ginger-garlic dissipates.
  7. Next add chopped mint leaves and coriander leaves.
  8. Stir and saute for a minute.
  9. Keep heat to a low or switch off the heat. Add the finely chopped tomatoes and turmeric powder, red chilli powder, black pepper powder or crushed black pepper, coriander powder and cumin powder. Add this point, you could also add ½ teaspoon of Sambar Masala if you like.
  10. Mix very well and sauté the tomatoes until they soften and become pulpy with oil releasing from the sides.

Making Tomato Rice

  1. Add the soaked rice. Gently mix the rice with the tomato mixture very well. Sauté for a minute.
  2. Add 1.75 cups water. For a more softer consistency in the rice, you can also add 2 cups water.
  3. Season with salt as per taste.
  4. Cover and pressure cook tomato rice for 2 whistles on medium heat or about 10 to 11 minutes. To get a softer rice, you can also pressure cook for 3 whistles.
  5. When the pressure settles down on its own. Then remove the lid and gently fluff the tomato rice.
  6. Serve tomato rice with appalams or chips or with a side of your preferred raita or plain curd (yogurt).

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.