Tomato Rice

All You Need:

• Tomatoes on vine– 2 1/2 (medium, finely chopped) or 2 cup of chopped tomatoes
• Onion – 3/4 (medium, finely chopped) or little less than 1 cup of finely chopped onions
• Shallots – 4 (finely chopped)
• Garlic – 2 flakes (crushed)
• Oil / Ennai – 1/2 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Cumin Seeds – 1/4 tsp
• Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
• Hing – sprinkle
• Curry leaves – few
• Red Chili powder – 2 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Cooked Rice – 2 cup

The Recipe:

• Wash the vegetables and finely chop the onion, shallots, tomatoes and crush the garlic.
• In a kadai, add oil. When it is hot temper with mustard seeds. As it splutters, on a low flame add cumin seeds, urad dal, hing and curry leaves. Add garlic and fry for 8-10 seconds until urad dhal starts changing its color.
• On a medium flame,  add the chopped onions and saute until it becomes translucent. This will take 3-4 minutes. Add a portion of salt as you saute.
• When the volume of onions reduces add turmeric powder and saute for 10 seconds and let the turmeric fry in oil. Add 1 or 2 tbsp of water it it sticks to the pan.
• Now add tomatoes and let it cook until it becomes mushy.
• Usually adding salt helps the vegetables to leave out water and it helps them to cook easily. I have not added water in my preparation as the tomatoes I used oozed out lot of water. You can add few tbsp of water if necessary.
• Add chili powder, remaining salt and let it cook for 10 minutes on a low flame or until the tomatoes are cooked well.
• Take a large bowl or plate, add the cooked rice, a portion of curry and mix it well. If you think it is too dry add some more curry. Never mix everything together you might end up having more curry in the rice or the rice might be too dry without any curry.