Tomato Rice

Soak rice in water for atleast 30 minutes. Drain and keep it aside.

Chop/slice the tomatoes into fine pieces.

Grind the ginger, whole (unpeeled) garlic pods and green chilies in a blender.

Heat ghee in a pressure cooker.

Add the whole spices and stir until the whole things starts spluttering.

Add the ginger-garlic-chillies paste and sautT until the raw smell leaves.

Add the tomatoes and sautT well until the whole mixture gets blends well.

Add all the powders and sautT further until the raw smell leaves.

Add the rice. Mix well and continue to stir for sometime.

Add 4 cups of water and mix well.

Add salt and mix again.

Pressure cook up to 2 whistles on high flame.

When done, garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Serve warm with Onion-Cucumber-Green chillies salad, pickle and a must pappadums.

Pointers to be considered:-

Since the cooking time changes with each kind of rice used, you can change the quantity of water accdg to its quality and texture. Though the usual ratio followed is 1 measure of rice : 2 measures of water, using 2 cups of water may result in over cooking for some varieties of rice. So, be careful on the same and use only 1+ cups of water in such cases. And anyways, you¦ll get this rite only after a couple of trial and errors. Kindly bear!!! 🙂

2) Pls make sure you switch off the stove immediately after the 2 whistles (to avoid making it get burnt).

3) Add more chilly powder and reduce the quantity of green chillies to render that vivacious reddish hue to the dish.

4) Adding biriyani masala powder or any other branded pulav masala adds that extra punch or zing to the whole thing.

5) Add lots of finely chopped coriander leaves for garnishing to bequeath that killing aroma on the dining table.

6) You can also even throw in veggies of your choice, say for instance, carrots, green peas, potatoes, cauliflower etc and make it all the more nutritious and colourful. Would make it definitely appealing to the kidsa. ;-p

7) You can also move around with the quantity of the whole spices and the masala powders accdg to your tastes and preferences.

8) You can also reduce or increase the quantity of ghee accdgly.

So, thankfully, gone are those days when I used to scuttle to the nearby eatery to satisfy my cravings for such spicy delicacies. But homemade food r really special as it thoroughly infuses in it that special feeling and tenderly affection called Love (along with loads of effortsa;-)). And honestly, µam really happy n satisfied with the fact that I too can make a decent (being modest again as usual) tomato rice to satisfy my little one¦s palettes too (has become his favourite now). 🙂

Moral of the story, sorryablog: v Try n try n try until you succeed. Never give up until you do so coz in this world, nothing comes easy. But remember, always do try the right way. Coz being right is always righta. ;-p

So, on that sanguine note, happy cooking!!!