Tomato Rice is simple, delicious and flavorful dish from the Tamil Nadu. It is also known as Thakkali Sadam in Tamil language. This can be made very easily for lunch boxes in the busy mornings.The left over rice from the previous day can be used for making this recipe.
Tomato rice could be eaten without any side dish, with pickle or raita. To make this dish I have used precooked rice that has been cooled.
There are two ways to make this rice:
- One you can make it from raw rice and cook together with tomato and spices.
- Second one is to make it with finely chopped tomato, spices, pre-cooked rice and mix together.
I have chosen the second way to make this recipe.
You can also try other vegetarian recipes:
What is Tomato Rice?
Tomato Rice is a popular rice dish from the Tamil Nadu cuisine. It is a slightly spicy rice dish that is made with tomato, spices and cooked rice. In the Tamil language, ‘thakkali‘ means tomato and ‘sadam‘ is rice.
This rice is seasoned with curry leaves, mustard seeds, green chilies, chili powder, turmeric, chopped garlic and onions and green chillies.
How to make Tomato Rice
Making tomato rice is very easy. Below are the step by step photos to show you how to make
- In a heavy pan or kadai heat 2 tbsp oil, add mustard seeds and saute till mustard seeds crackle.
- Then add red chillies, jeera, urad dal, channa dal, cashew nuts and curry leafs and saute until light golden brown.
- Add chopped garlic and saute for 1min. Then Add chopped onions, salt, turmeric and fry until onions are transparent.
- Add chilli powder and saute for 1 min and add finely chopped tomatos, salt to taste, slit green chilles
- Add 1/2 cup of water and cook until tomatos are mushy.
- Loosen the rice with a fork or your fingers and add to the cooked tomato masala.
- Lightly mix so that the rice doesn’t break and cook covered for a couple of minutes for the rice to heat through.
- Add 1 tbsp ghee to the tomato rice and mix well. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.
Tomato Rice(Thakkali Sadam) Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Cooked Rice (basmati rice or short grain rice)
- 3 Tomatos , chopped
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 1 Green chilli, slits
- ½ cup water
- 2 tbsp Oil
- 1 tbsp Ghee
- 6 Garlic, chopped finely
- 2 tsp Salt adjust to taste
- 1 tsp Red chilli powder
- ½ tsp Turmeric
Tempering
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- ½ tsp Cumin seeds or Jeera
- 1 tsp Urad dal
- 1 tsp Channa dal
- 12-14 Cashew nuts
- 1 Sprig Curry leaves
- 4 Red chilles
Instructions
- In a heavy pan or kadai heat 2 tbsp oil, add mustard seeds and saute till mustard seeds crackle.
- Then add red chillies, jeera, urad dal, channa dal, cashew nuts and curry leafs and saute until light golden brown.
- Add chopped garlic and saute for 1min. Then Add chopped onions, salt, turmeric and fry until onions are transparent.
- Add chilli powder and saute for 1 min and add finely chopped tomatos, salt to taste, slit green chilles
- Add 1/2 cup of water and cook until tomatos are mushy.
- Loosen the rice with a fork or your fingers and add to the cooked tomato masala.
- Lightly mix so that the rice doesn’t break and cook covered for a couple of minutes for the rice to heat through.
- Add 1 tbsp ghee to the tomato rice and mix well. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.