Tomato Rice

I love South Indian food, and I love rice. Makes sense really, given all the different sorts of rice the South Indians make. Lemon rice, tamarind rice, curd rice, the list is endless. One of my favourites though is tomato rice. It’s quick, easy and tastes amazing. It usually takes me only about 15 minutes to put together using left over rice from the night before, and the result is some amazing comfort food.

Ingredients (serves 1 – coz I eat a lot!):

250g tomatoes, diced (I usually use a punnet of cherry tomatoes, which have been halved)
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 dried chillies
6 or 7 curry leaves
1 whole black cardamom (bara elachi)
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp chilli powder
Salt to taste
1 cup of rice, cooked
1 tbs oil

1. Heat the oil in a kadai.

2. Once oil is heated, temper it with the mustard seeds, dried chilli, curry leaves and cardamom pod for about 30 secs.

3. Add the chopped tomatoes and mix well until the mixture has become mushy.

4. Add the garam masala, chilli powder and salt and mix thoroughly.

5. Add the cooked rice and remove from the heat. Mix the rice and tomato mixture well so that all the rice is coated.

6. Serve hot with yogurt.