What do you do on a mundane weekday when you don’t feel like cooking and all you have is leftover rice from the previous day?
Make Tomato Bath (Rice) which is a simple, easy and delicious dish, and takes just 20 minutes to prepare. It is a popular dish in South India. The tangy flavour of the tomatoes mixed with spices makes this dish very satisfying and amps up the leftover rice to another level. This is a perfect lunch box recipe and can be enjoyed with plain curd or kadhi.
⏱️ Preparation time: 10 minutes
🥘 Cooking time: 20 minutes
⏳ Total duration: 30 minutes
Type of meal: Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner
Cuisine: Indian, South Indian
🍽️ Serves 2 – 3 persons
Ingredients:
- Rice: 1 cup
- Tomato: 4 – 5 (finely chopped)
- Onion: 2 (finely chopped)
- Ginger: 1 bulb (finely chopped)
- Green chili: 2 (finely chopped)
- Clove: 2
- Cinnamon: 1
- Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder: 1 tsp
- Asafoetida powder: 1/4 tsp
- Coriander & cumin powder: 3 – 4 tsp
- Ghee (clarified butter): 2 tbsp
- Salt as per taste
Instructions:
- Wash 1 cup of rice in running water. In a vessel, add rice and 3 cups of water 2 -3 times, and pressure cook it upto 3 – 4 whistles.
- In a pan kept on medium heat, add 1 tbsp ghee. When the ghee becomes hot, add 1 tsp cumin seeds, clove and cinnamon and sauté for a minute.
- Now add the chopped onion, green chilli and ginger, and sauté till the onion becomes pink.
- Next, add the chopped tomatoes, 3 – 4 tsp of coriander and cumin powder, 1 tsp of turmeric powder, 1/4 tsp of asafoetida powder, salt and mix well.
- Cook till the tomato becomes soft and mushy.
- Add the cooked rice little by little and keep stirring. Cook it for 2 minutes till the rice is mixed well with the spices.
- Add 1 tbsp ghee, garnish coriander leaves and serve it hot with curd or kadhi or have it as it is.
Notes:
- You can have Tomato Bath with plain rice or basmati rice. In case of plain rice add 3 cups of water for 1 cup of rice. Whereas for basmati rice, add 1.5 cups of water for 1 cup of rice. However, for basmati rice, please soak it for 15 – 20 minutes before cooking.
- You may alternatively cook the rice along with the spices and veggies in a pressure cooker or a rice cooker. The taste may vary slightly, but both taste equally good.
- Adding ghee at the end, makes the dish flavourful and tasty.