Well, what do you make when you don’t want to go through an elaborate meal prep with an entree and a couple of sides? Well, you make a one-pot-meal! Eating out or getting take out is of course an alternative. But it is easier, cheaper and healthier to make a whole meal in a pot. I do have a few trusted one-pot-meal recipes for the lazy days and tomato rice is one of them. It is light and flavorful without strong masala flavors and you don’t need any thing other than yogurt to make it a satisfying meal. You can make it more elaborate by serving lemon pickle, pappadam and raita with it. However you serve, tomato rice is an easy dinner idea.
Rice Prep
I have used regular white raw rice or Ponni raw rice. Any type of rice including basmati or any of the short-grained rice will work fine.
I did cook rice separately for this recipe, but you can cook the rice with the masala also and make it a true one pot meal.
To precook the rice for tomato rice or for any biriyani/pulao/fried rice, I wash and soak the rice for 20-25 minutes. Then I boil 3 cups of water for 1 cup of rice. It doesn’t matter how much water you boil, as long as it is more than the amount for cooking the rice. Once the water starts boiling, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and mix well. Add the rice and let it cook till the rice is 80% cooked.
It takes around 7-8 minutes for me, but please check for yourself how long it takes for you. Check the doneness of the rice by pressing it between your fingertips. If it flattens but still has a slight firmness to it , then it is ready. The goal is to not completely cook th rice. Drain the rice into a colander. Let the rice drain well and then spread it on a plate to cool it down. You should use only cooled rice for any rice preparations, otherwise rice grains will break and it won’t look so great.
One pot meal: To cook the rice in the masala, add the soaked and drained rice to the cooked tomato masala, add water(usually twice the amount) and cover and cook till done.
Vegetable prep
Peel the tomatoes before adding them, if you do not like to find tomato peels mixed with the rice. Otherwise you can skip that step.
I have added mint leaves here just because I didn’t have any cilantro. You can substitute with cilantro /coriander leaves. Both those leaves impart their own unique, amazing flavors to the tomato rice, so either will work.
Prepare the vegetables for the tomato rice
Start preparing the masala in the order listed in the recipe section
At the end, it would look like this 
Lower the flame and mix the rice in 
Tomato Rice
Ingredients
Rice prep
- 2 cups Rice, washed and soaking for 20-30 minutes
- ½ tsp Salt
- 6 cups water
Tomato Rice
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- A few Cashews
- 1 medium Onion, thin slices
- ½" Ginger, peeled
- 2-3 Garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 tsp Fennel seeds
- ½ tsp Turmeric powder
- 4-5 large Tomatoes, Peeled and diced (See notes)
- ½-¾ tsp Red chili powder
- 1-1½ tsp Garam masala, (I used homemade Kerala garam masala)
- Salt to taste
- Mint or Coriander leaves(CIlantro) 5-6 mint or a handful of coriander leaves
Instructions
If cooking rice separately, continue to the 1st step. If cooking rice along with the masala, please go to the One-pot tomato rice prep section.
- Boil 6 cups of water in a large pot.
- Add the ½ tsp salt to it.
- Once the water boils, add the rice, mix well and let it cook for 7-8 minutes or until it is 80% cooked.
- Drain into a colander.
- Spread the rice grains using a fork and let it cool down.
Vegetable prep
- Crush the ginger, garlic and fennel seeds into a coarse mixture and keep asde.
- Peel the skin off the tomatoes if you want to, dice into pieces and keep aside.
Masala prep
- Heat oil in a large skillet and add the mustard seeds to it when it gets hot.
- When the mustard seeds splutter, add the cashews and let is roast till it starts changing color.
- Add the sliced onion, a little salt for faster cooking and saute for a while.
- When the onion starts changing color to light brown, add the crushed ginger-garlic- fennel mixture and mix well.
- Once their raw smell disappears, add sliced leaves: 2-3 mint or 2 tsp of coriander leaves.
- Mix well and add the turmeric powder and continue sauteing.
- Add the tomatoes, a little salt and continue cooking till the tomatoes turn soft and is cooked well.
- Add the red chili powder and garam masala and let it all cook till oil starts coming out and masala starts leaving the sides of the pan.
Tomato rice
- Lower the flame and add the rice. Make sure that there are no lumps of rice.
- Mix the rice well with the masala, check the salt, and continue cooking on low flame for 2-3 minutes. Mix often to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Sprinkle the remaining mint or coriander leaves.
- Cover and let it sit for 15 minutes and serve.
One pot tomato rice prep
- Soak the rice for 20-25 minutes and drain.
- Add the rice to the tomato masala after the masala starts leaving the sides (Step 9)
- Mix the rice well into the masala.
- Add 1¾ cups of hot water, add salt and let the water come to a boil.
- Once the water boils, lower the heat and cover and cook till the water evaporates and the rice is cooked well.
- Sprinkle the remaining mint or coriander leaves. Serve after a few minutes.
Notes
- Peel the tomatoes to avoid the tomato skin in the rice.