Tomato rice is a simple, spicy, flavorful & delicious one pot dish made with rice, tomatoes, spices & herbs. This tomato rice can be made in a pressure cooker or a pot. If you are looking to use up left over or precooked white rice, then you can make tomato rice just under 20 mins following this Thakkali sadam recipe.
Tomato rice can be served with out any sides as it is very flavorful & tasty on its own. However some vegetable salad, curd, raita or papad will complement your meal. To make it kids’ friendly, you can puree the tomatoes and use.
If you are new to Indian cuisine, read on to know
What is tomato rice?
Tomato rice is a simple south Indian rice dish made with lots of tomatoes & spices. It is not a traditional dish so each home or region has their own way of making it.
As the name indicates this tomato rice is made using tomatoes alone and no vegetables are used except onion. But you can use any veggies like peas, potatoes etc and even soya chunks or boiled egg goes well.
Methods to make
This south Indian tomato rice can be made in a pressure cooker, in a regular pot or in instant pot. I have shared all the methods here.
I have shown making tomato rice in pressure cooker in the step by step method. In the video I have shown making it in a pot. I have also included instructions for instant pot method in the recipe card.
Step-by-step photos
Preparation for tomato rice
1. Wash 1½ cups rice very well a few times until the water runs clear. Soak the rice if you wish until the preparation is done. Later drain the rice completely and set aside.
2. Wash and slice 1 medium onion thinly or chop them. Also slit 1 green chili (optional). Rinse & chop or puree 2 to 3 medium tomatoes. I use about 1 cup chopped tomatoes (200 grams). You can also deseed them before chopping.
3. Grate or crush half inch ginger & 2 garlic cloves to make 1 tablespoon paste. Set aside. Optional– Split 12 cashew nuts and set aside.
How to make tomato rice
4. Add 2 tablespoons ghee or oil to a hot pressure cooker or a pot. Add cashews and fry them until golden and crisp. Remove to a plate. Regulate the flame to low. Add 1 inch cinnamon, 3 cloves, 1 bay leaf, 3 cardamoms and ¾ teaspoon cumin. If you do not have bay leaf you can use curry leaves. If you do not have all of these whole spices, just skip them.
5. Add 1 medium chopped or sliced onions and green chilies. Begin to saute them. Skip green chilli if you have kids home.
6. When the onions turn golden, saute 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste just for few seconds.
7. Add 1 cup chopped tomatoes, ¼ teaspoon turmeric and ½ teaspoon salt. Saute for 2 to 3 mins.
8. Next cover and cook until the tomatoes turn mushy. Add ½ to 1 teaspoon red chili powder and ¾ to 1 teaspoon garam masala. I used this garam masala along with half tsp of fennel powder. If you have kids home cut down the chilli powder to half teaspoon.
9. Saute until the tomato masala turns soft and mushy. There should be no raw smell of tomatoes by now and the masala leaves the sides of the pan.
10. Pour 2½ cups water if making in pressure cooker and Stir it well. Check and add more salt if needed. Bring it to a rolling boil. If cooking in a pot pour 3 cups.
11. Add drained rice.
12. Mix well. Cover with a lid. Cook on a medium heat & allow to whistle once. If cooking in a pot, cook on a low heat until all the water is absorbed & the rice is done.
13. When the pressure releases naturally, open the lid and fluff up the tomato rice. If you like the rice to be al dente, do not allow the pressure to come down on its own. When the cooker is still with pressure, release it by lifting the whistle with a wooden spatula. Allow to rest for 5 mins.
Fluff up the tomato rice with a fork. When the temperature comes down a bit, can squeeze in some lemon juice and add coriander leaves. Garnish with fried cashew nuts.
Serve tomato rice with onion slices or veg salad or raita.
For more Rice recipes, you can check
Corn pulao
Puliyogare
Kerala ghee rice
Curd rice
Tips
Rice: Rinse rice well a few times to get rid of the starch. Soak it well for at least 30 mins. These 2 steps will prevent the tomato rice from turning mushy & sticky. You can use any kind of rice you have in hand.
South Indian tomato rice is actually made with short grain rice but I have used basmati.
Water: Rice to water ratio is very important to cook up the rice to fluffy & nonsticky. Here are the ratios for basmati rice.
For 1½ cups basmati rice
2 ½ cups water for pressure cooker
3 cups for regular pot
2 cups for instant pot
Spices: I have used some whole spices like bay leaf, cinnamon, cumin, jeera and cardamoms. You can just skip what ever you do not have.
Tomato rice with precooked rice
If you prefer to use up precooked rice, here are the brief instructions. For detailed steps do check this thakkali sadam recipe
Follow the steps from 2 to 9 in the recipe card. Set aside some of this masala. Then just add cooled cooked rice to it. Mix well and if needed add more masala.
For more Tomato recipes, you may like to check
Karnataka tomato bath
Tomato upma
Simple tomato biryani
Tomato curry
Spicy tomato chutney
Recipe
Tomato rice recipe
Tomato rice recipe
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 1 ½ cups basmati rice
- 2 tablespoons oil or ghee
- 1 medium onion (chopped or sliced)
- 1 green chili (slit, optional)
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste or crushed
- 1 cup tomatoes (2 to 3 medium sized) (chopped or pureed)
- ¾ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- ¾ to 1 teaspoon garam masala powder or curry powder
- ½ to 1 teaspoon red chili powder or paprika (reduce for less spicy)
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric (haldi)
- 2 ½ cups water for cooker (3 cups for pot & 1¾ cups + 2 tbsp for Instapot)
- 3 tablespoon coriander leaves (cilantro) finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
- 12 whole cashewnuts (split & use) (optional)
whole spices (skip if you don't have)
- 1 small bay leaf or curry leaves
- ¾ teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
- 1 inch cinnamon piece (dalchini)
- 3 green cardamoms (elaichi)
- 3 cloves (laung)
How to make the recipe
- Add 1½ cup rice to a bowl and rinse it well a few times until the water runs clear. Pour fresh water and soak the rice for 30 mins. Then drain to a colander & set aside.
- Heat a pressure cooker or a pot with 2 tbsps ghee or oil.
- Add cashews and fry until golden. Remove to a plate & set aside.
- Saute 3 cloves, 1 inch cinnamon piece, ¾ tsp cumin, 3 green cardamoms and 1 small bay leaf.
- When they begin to crackle, add 1 finely chopped onion and 1 slit green chili.
- Saute until the onions turn golden. Next saute 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste until a nice aroma comes out for 30 seconds.
- Next add in 1 cup tomatoes, salt as needed and ¼ tsp turmeric.
- Saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Cover & cook until the tomatoes break down & turn mushy.
- Add ½ to 1 tsp red chili powder and ¾ to 1 tsp garam masala powder.
- Mix and cook until the tomato masala turns completely soft and mushy.
- At this stage the masala leaves the sides of the pan. Pour water & stir well. Taste the water and add more salt if needed.
- Bring the water to a rolling boil. Add the drained rice.
Making tomato rice in a pot
- Cook until the water has almost absorbed. When the rice is still soggy, lower the flame completely and cover with a lid until the tomato rice is cooked completely.
- Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and squeeze in some lemon juice. Tomato rice is ready to serve hot or warm with a raita. Garnish with cashews.
Making tomato rice in a pressure cooker
- Stir and cover with the lid. Cook on a medium high heat. Allow to whistle once. When the pressure goes down, open the lid. Fluff up the tomato rice.
Instant pot tomato rice
- Soak rice for 30 mins. Press SAUTE button & pour oil to the inner pot of the instant pot. Then fry cashews until golden and remove them. Stir in the whole spices and then add onions.
- Saute them until transparent. Add the ginger garlic paste & saute for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and salt. Saute them until the tomatoes break down and turn mushy.
- Add chilli powder, garam masala & turmeric. Saute for just 1 to 2 mins until
the moisture from tomatoes almost dries up. - Next pour 1¾ cups + 2 tbsp water. Press CANCEL button. Scrape off any bits of spices stuck at the bottom. This prevents from getting a burn notice.
- Stir & check the salt. Add more if needed. Then add the rice. Then secure the lid. Set the steam release handle/ value to sealing. Press PRESSURE COOK button (highpressure) for 5 mins.
- When the tomato rice is done, Instant pot beeps. Wait for 2 mins & release the pressure manually with the help of a spoon by moving the steam release handle to venting from sealing. If you like softer rice then let the pressure release naturally for 7 to 8 mins. Then release the rest manually.
- Sprinkle coriander leaves & fluff up the tomato rice with a fork. Garnish with cashews.
Video
NUTRITION (estimation only)
Notes
For normal rice, you will need more.
Use water as needed depending on the kind of rice used.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
If you are new to cooking, follow my detailed step by step photo instructions for best results.
Porkodi says
Hi sis calories in the recipe for one serve or three serve
swasthi says
Sorry! Forgot to reply. It is for 1 serving.
Venkata says
12 cashews split means 6 whole cashews or 12 whole cashews?
How many tomatoes make 1 cup?
swasthi says
Hi Venkata,
It is 12 whole cashewnuts. Split and use them. 2 to 3 medium tomatoes will come up to 1 cup.
Tara says
Thanks for the recipe. Tomato rice turned out to be awesome. We served with cucumber raita.
swasthi says
Hi Tara,
You are welcome. Glad your tomato rice turned out good. Thank you!
Prasanna says
Thank u so much for all ur recipes it is helping me a lot … my family is enjoying with all my dishes just bcz of u thnk u so much….
swasthi says
Welcome Prasanna,
Thanks for the comment. So happy to know your family enjoys your food.
🙂
Tamanna joyce says
You make life easier with your easy recipes. Thank you for this delicious recipe
Emma says
Awesome tomato rice. Made it tonight with cucumber raita
swasthi says
Thanks Emma
Susan says
Hi Swasthi, thanks for the recipe. Tomato rice was awesome. Hey, when is the right time to add those roasted cashews. Sorry if I may have overlooked but I didn’t find it mentioned after we fried and kept them aside.
swasthi says
Hi Susan,
You are welcome. Glad your tomato rice turned out awesome. If you like crunchy cashews just sprinkle them on top of the rice before serving. I usually add them once the rice is done and stir well. Resting them in the rice for a while softens them but they turn flavorful. Thank you so much for rating the recipe.
🙂
Jane says
Hi Swasthi,
I tried your tomato rice a few times in a pot and came out delicious. Last night I made following the instant pot instructions and ended up with a mushy rice. We managed to eat it. Something is wrong. Is it the cook time or the quantity of water? I am keen to make this again as my girl loves it. Thank you.
swasthi says
Hi Jane,
Thanks for trying. No there is nothing wrong with the cook time and the quantity of water either. It may be pressure release that made the tomato rice mushy.If you like the al dente rice then please release the pressure immediately and rest the rice in the instant pot itself for a minute or two. If you like softer rice, release the pressure after 2 mins. I will update the details. Hope this helps.
Arpita says
Hi swasthi,
I like ur all recipes.. today I tried tomato rice in a pot. It turns out mushy. I’ve used brown rice.. usually my brown rice takes long time to cook than normal rice… I soaked the rice for 40 to 45 minutes. The rice is eatable its taste good loaded of flavors… but I wanted it loosened like urs.. plzz suggest me something that how can i do it with brown rice… thank you so much.
swasthi says
Hi Arpita,
You are welcome. Please let me know the brand of brown rice you used and where you live so I can suggest you a better brand of rice if needed.
Pooja says
Thanks, Swasthi, for the delicious recipe: my family relished every bite! I look forward to trying more recipes on your blog.
swasthi says
Hi Pooja,
You are welcome. Glad you all liked the tomato rice.
Juan says
Absolutely delicious! I made this with lots of frozen peas as mentioned by you and it tasted fab. My girls loved it pretty much and want to carry it to work. I recently found your blog. Have been loving your recipes. I & my Wife made your butter chicken last week. Turned out fantastic! Thank you for the recipes.
swasthi says
Hi Juan,
You are welcome. Very glad to know you all loved the tomato rice & butter chicken. Thanks for the comment.
Bhavani sindya says
Superb
Padma latha says
Hi swasthi
Thank you so much for all the delicious recipes you share. I made your tomato rice last night for a trial before I could make it for my guests. How can I go ahead with the recipe to make 12 servings. Will it work if I multiply the entire recipe by 4. Also I want to make an egg curry along with this. Do you think they go well? Suggestions please
swasthi says
Hi Padma
You are welcome. I assume you are making it in a pot. Yes you can multiply the recipe by 4 times but reduce the water by half cup. If your rice is still under cooked, just bring that half cup water to a rolling boil in a separate pot and pour it over the rice. Cover and simmer until fully done. I don’t think egg curry goes well with this. I guess roasted boiled eggs & cucumber raita goes well. Hope this helps.
Rajendra says
Thank Ma’am for the step by step receipe
Priya says
Hi…
I made this today and it was awesome…
I did add beetroot for extra flavor and color.
Thank you so so much
swasthi says
Welcome Priya
Thanks for trying. Happy to know tomato rice turned out good. Beetroot is a good addition.
🙂
pavani says
Delicious recipe with ur twist
swasthi says
Hi Pavani,
Thanks for trying
Bel says
I made this rice yesterday for my daughter. She loves Indian food and ate a similar dish at a local Indian restaurant. She loved this so much I had to find a comparable recipe. This rice tastes and is way more flavorful than what she ordered! Very fragrant and everyone loved this dish. So great and thank you for posting the recipe.
swasthi says
Welcome Bel
Glad to know the tomato rice turned out good. Thanks a lot for trying and rating the recipe.
Suja says
Yummy I make this often with green peas added. Absolutely a winner anytime. Thanks for the recipes. Just awesome!!
swasthi says
Welcome Suja
Thanks for trying. Glad to know you like the tomato rice. Love the idea of green peas!!
🙂
Gail says
HI ! I used tinned cherry tomatoes and it was wayyyy too acidic…I will try again with fresh tomatoes….
Thanks for this recipe ! Any advice for coutervailing the acidity ?? I do not want to add sugar…..
swasthi says
Welcome Gail.
Yes unfortunately tinned tomatoes dont work here. You can try with this alternate to cut down the sourness. The amount of onions i have mentioned in the recipe have to be sauteed in oil first until golden, cooled and then pureed along with little tomato puree. Follow the rest of the recipe by skipping onions in the tempering (step 3 in recipe card). After adding the puree, just cook until the mixture begins to leave oil or the sides of the pan – meaning it is completely cooked.
I am sure this works.
Gail says
Thank you so much for your answer, I will try again soon 🙂
Sneha says
Made Tomato Rice yesterday, by following your recipe. Turned out well. It was super tangy,spicy and tasty. Everyone liked it. Thank you so much for the recipe. Will try out other recipes too very soon
swasthi says
Welcome Sneha
Happy to know tomato rice turned out good.
Yes do try the other recipes.
Thanks for the comment
Pri says
Is that ok for kids or it’s too spicy?
swasthi says
Skip chilli and reduce red chili powder if making for kids
Chitra Ramesh says
Hi Swasthi! This recipe is excellent with temple style curd rice. I cooked both of them for my parents and they were very happy. Thank you so much!
swasthi says
Welcome Chitra
Thanks for trying and sharing the outcome. Happy to know you all liked them.
Sukanya says
We can also use sambar powder .
I use it every time.
swasthi says
Thanks for sharing sukanya. Will try
vidya says
Thanks for sharing this recipe. Will try it soon.
swasthi says
Welcome Vidya
Do try it