This easy tomato rice recipe with garam masala and other spices is a rice variety made in South Indian style, which is very delicious, easy to make, healthy, vegetarian and vegan one pot meal perfect for a quick and easy lunch or dinner.
Garam masala is the most important spice that adds the spicy flavor to this easy masala tomato rice.
I have a collection of easy, yummy and healthy Indian rice recipes. See all Indian rice recipes in my blog here.
Tomato rice is popular in South India and it is one of the most easy rice dishes for lunch that you can easily make in one pot. See easy yellow rice recipe here.
I always make this when I have tomatoes and when we need a quick lunch. Tomato is known as thakkali in malayalam and tomato rice is known as thakkli rice or thakkali choru in South India (choru means rice in malayalam language). See Curry Rice Recipe With Leftover Curry.
Other than tomatoes and rice, you only need a few ingredients to make this recipe, and it tastes great without even any side dishes.
I do not usually use onions in tomato rice, as I almost always make this tomato rice when I want something quick and I don’t often have time to cut up onions. But its delicious even without onions.
You can shallow fry chopped onions (one is enough) before adding the tomatoes if you want onions in this tomato rice recipe.
See my post on ghee rice recipe here
The recipe I am sharing here is a family favorite that I make often and the ingredients based on what we like and what we have in our hand mostly. Each family has their own favorite way of making tomato rice and the extra ingredients and recipe may differ slightly.
It is not necessary to use masala for tomato rice and many of the South Indian style tomato rice recipes do not call for garam masala powder in ingredients list.
In this tomato rice recipe, we are using garam masala for a more exotic flavor of masala.
More Pictures From The Preparation Of Tomato Rice
See more tomato rice recipes in this blog:
Tomato rice recipe with bell peppers
I love tomato pieces in my tomato rice, so I prefer to cut the tomatoes into small pieces and then make the rice.
Many people love to puree the tomatoes first and then make the dish with the pureed tomatoes, so the rice will have a nice orange color to it, but no little pieces of tomatoes in the rice. Either way, tomato rice is so simple, healthy, easy to make and tastes great!
Here I am sharing my favorite recipe for tomato rice, where I just add the small pieces of tomatoes to the rice, so I can chew on the tomatoes while I have the lunch.
Feel free to tweak the recipe by adding your own favorite spices or just fried or sauteed onions as you wish!
See the recipe in detail below with ingredients and instructions in the recipe card.
Tomato Rice Recipe Using Garam Masala - Easy Tomato Masala Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- Fresh Tomatoes 5 medium sized
- White Basmati Rice 1.5 Cups
- Water 4 Cups
- Turmeric powder ½ teaspoon
- red chili powder 1 teaspoon
- coriander powder 2 teaspoons
- garam masala powder 2 teaspoons
- crushed black pepper 1 teaspoon
- Garlic Cloves 4 to 5 crushed or minced
- ginger crushed 1 tablespoon or you can use 2 tablespoons of ginger garlic paste
- green chilies 1 to 2 slitted
- Salt as required
- Oil 2 tablespoons
- cumin seeds 1 teaspoon
- dry red chilies 4 to 5
- Curry Leaves a few optional
- fresh cilantro leaves coriander leaves chopped 2 to 3 tablespoons
Instructions
- Wash the rice and soak it in water for about 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes of soaking, drain the water, lightly rinse again and keep the washed rice aside.
- Chop the tomatoes to small sized pieces, keep aside separate from the rice.
- Heat oil in a large pan and fry the cumin seeds, red chilies and curry leaves for a few seconds.
- Add the green chili and chopped tomatoes and saute the tomatoes for a few minutes stirring in between.
- Add crushed garlic and ginger (or ginger garlic paste) and saute for one more minute.
- Add the rice and stir fry for about a minute.
- Add the salt and spices, gently stir and let the mixture stir fry for about two minutes.
- Add water to the pan and mix everything well.
- Turn the heat to high and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Once the water starts boiling, gently mix everything again with a spoon and then close the pan and reduce the flame.
- Cook the rice in low heat for about 10 to 12 minutes.
- Open the pan and see if the rice is cooked well. If you see there is any water that is left, you can keep the pan opened for a minute or so or until the water is all evaporated.
- Add chopped fresh cilantro leaves to the prepared tomato rice (coriander leaves).
- Mix the rice very gently using a fork and serve hot!
Notes
Hope you found this easy tomato rice recipe South Indian style helpful!
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