Tomato Rice Recipe (Indian Style)

Tomato Rice is a simple, spicy, flavorful & delicious one pot Indian dish made with rice, ripe tomatoes, spices & herbs. This Tomato Rice can be made in a stovetop pressure cooker, Instant pot, electric rice cooker or even in a regular pot. If you are looking to use up left over or precooked white rice, you can make Tomato Rice just under 20 mins following this Thakkali sadam recipe. This Tomato rice can be served with out any sides as it is very flavorful & tasty on its own.

However some vegetable salad, kachumber, curd, raita or papad will complement your meal. To make it kids’ friendly, you can puree the tomatoes before using.

If you are new to Indian cuisine, read on to know

About Tomato Rice

Tomato Rice is a simple South Indian meal where rice is cooked with lots of tomatoes, fresh herbs, whole spices & ground spices. It tastes simply delicious, aromatic and makes for a quick meal option any time of the year.

It is not a traditional dish so each Indian home and region has a different way of making it. You will come across Tomato rice in a lot of South Indian restaurants and budget eateries. Every place serves a different tasting dish and is served with papads and Onion Raita.

As the name indicates my tomato rice is made using tomatoes alone and no vegetables are used except onion. But you can use any veggies like peas, potatoes etc. to perk up the nutrition. On Occasions I even add some softened and marinated soya chunks or boiled egg to add some protein to the dish.

Methods

This South Indian tomato rice can be made in a stovetop pressure cooker, in a regular pot or in instant pot. If you have an electric cooker you can use that as well. I have shared all the methods here.

I have shown making tomato rice in the stovetop 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. To make it in a rice cooker, check the Faq section below.

Fantastic Tip: Here is a fantastic tip from a reader in the comments. Make a large batch of tomato masala and freeze it in the ice trays. Once set remove and store in zip lock bags. When you want to make instant tomato rice, simply add some of the cubes to the rice cooker. Your hands free tomato rice is ready with almost minimum effort.

Photo Guide

How to Make Tomato Rice (stepwise photos)

Preparation

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.

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

Pro 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.

For more Tomato recipes, you may like to check
Karnataka tomato bath
Tomato upma
Simple tomato biryani
Tomato curry
Spicy tomato chutney

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.

Faqs

Related Recipes

Recipe Card

Tomato Rice Recipe First Published in January 2017. Updated and Republished in June 2022.