ish:rice
Cooking level: easy
Origin: North India
Introduction:
This dish is one of the dishes as its very close to my heart. This was the first dish I learnt to make when I started to cook. Well, I have been talking about only simple easy to make dishes, this dish I guess is easier than the easiest. It requires not more than three main ingredients- Onion, Tomato, rice and some spices. This dish has been my companion when I was very hungry, lazy to cook and wanted to eat something filled with good flavor. One secret about this dish is the more fresher the tomatoes the more tasty it is.
It is known as tomato baath in India. Baath in south Indian means rice. This dish can made be made into two ways. First, making the tomato paste and mixing with cooked rice. The other way is cooking rice along with spices in a pressure cooker and an electric rice maker. I have always liked making it in a pressure cooker as it requires very less effort (as mentioned above this dish is best when your lazy to cook). Yet, again there is quite a lot of difference in how its prepared in South India and in North India. South Indians use Ural daal, and coriander seeds make it a paste and mix with tomato puree along with some more spices. North Indians make it quite differently. I have always made it in the north Indian style, so I will be writing about how North Indians prepare it.
Tomato Rice:
Preparation Time: 15 minutes.
Serves: Four people
Ingredients required:
- Two table spoon of clarified butter
- One tea spoon Cumin seeds
- One tea spoon Turmeric powder
- Five to six black cloves
- Five to Six green Cardamom
- One to Two inches of Cinnamon stick
- One bay leaf
- Half tea spoon of peppercorns
- One table spoon of ginger garlic paste (6 to seven garlic cloves and one inch ginger mixed together in a paste. You can also add two green chilly to this paste if you like it more spicy)
- One medium sized onions roughly chopped (roughly chopped as we are cooking it in a pressure cooker)
- Five medium fresh round tomatoes (roughly chopped as we are cooking it directly in a pressure cooker)
- Two cups of Basmati rice
- Two and half tea spoon of red chili powder
- Four and half cups of water
- Salt to taste.
How to make Tomato rice north Indian style :
- Take a pressure cooker. Add two table spoon of clarified butter. Once hot add on tea spoon of cumin seeds. Let it crackle.
- Add bay leaf, cook for 10 seconds.
- Add One to two inch of cinnamon stick, five to six black cloves, five to six green cardamoms, and half tea spoon of peppercorns. Shallow fry for 30 seconds.
- Add one tea spoon of turmeric powder to it and mix well.
- Add one table spoon of ginger garlic paste. If you like it spicy you can also add two green chilies finely chopped or can mix with it ginger garlic paste. Cook this for another 30 seconds. Add two roughly chopped onions. Shallow fry until golden brown.
- Add five medium fresh round tomatoes roughly chopped.Add two and half tea spoons of red chili powder and salt it taste and mix well. Cook it for another minute.
- Meanwhile wash rice and soak it in water. Drain the water add two cups of basmati rice to the tomato mixture. Mix well Cook for another 30 seconds.
- Add four and half cups of water. Seal the pressure cooker and turn off the heat after 4 whistles.
- After releasing the pressure add some more clarified butter and mix well and serve hot.
Tomato rice is ready to be served hot. You can garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and also with mint leaves. It goes best with onion Raita. Raita is very simple to make- You will need two finely chopped onion, 2 green chilly finely chopped, 5 spoons of yogurt, chat masala and salt. Mix this well to make a watery paste and serve with tomato rice. You can also serve this with some pickle, curds and some papad (fryums).
One more tip while cooking tomato rice you can add some mint leaves in the cooker along with other ingredients to get a better taste instead of using it as a garnish.
Nutritional benefits:
Tomatoes are rich in Vitamin K, Vitamin c, vitamin A and potassium. Tomatoes also are said to have some dietary fibers. Since this dishes main components are tomatoes and rice, definitely it contains vitamin c,k and A Potassium and of course carbohydrates cause of the rice. One serving of tomato rice constitutes 258 calories. It has total fat of two grams.
Conclusion : Hope you guys like this dish and do try at home when you are very hungry and lazy to cook. Keep watching this space for more rice recipes.
