Make this delicious tomato rice with the fresh seasonal tomatoes and minimal spices for your lunch box today. Guess what, you can prepare the tomato rice paste well ahead and cook it when needed and prepare this tomato rice aka thakkali sadam. Here comes my tomato rice recipe with the flavors of cumin seeds but without any garam masala.
Tomato rice is one of the favorite lunch box recipes, and there are many ways to prepare this recipe. You can make this with garam masala and mint more like tomato biryani or without mint more like tomato pulav. And here is a unique version that doesn’t need any garam masala or the biryani spices like cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, fennel seeds, etc.
All you need for this recipe is – tomatoes, shallots, red chilies, cumin seeds, rice and the regular tempering spices. I learned this recipe from my aunt, and this is vaandu’s favorite lunch box recipe these days.
Make Ahead Tomato Rice Paste:
As I mentioned above, you can prepare the sauce or base for this recipe well ahead. I usually make it the day before, and in the morning I saute the sauce and mix the rice with it. So how to make the tomato rice paste? Just grind the tomatoes, shallots, red chilies, cumin seeds without any water. That’s it. Your tomato rice paste is ready. When needed, do the tempering and cook the sauce and mix the cooked rice. You can use leftover rice also for this recipe. Curry leaves and channa dal for tempering adds a unique texture and flavor to this rice recipe.
Variety Rice Recipes with Vegetables for Lunch Box:
You can find quite a few vegetables based variety rice recipes on my blog for lunch box. Here are a few –
Ingredients:
- Rice – 1 cup (Any rice is preferable basmati or sona masoori)
- Water – 2 cups
- Salt 1.5 tsp
- Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
- To Grind:
- Ripe tomatoes – 3
- Small onions – 5-6
- Red chilies – 3
- Cumin Seeds 1 tbsp
- Hing – ¼ tsp
- To Temper
- Oil – 3 tsps
- Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
- Urad dal – 1 tsp
- Channa dal – 2 tsps
- Curry leaves – 1 strand
Prep – Work:
- Cook the rice in your preferred way by adding two cups of water and allow it to cool.
- Grind the tomatoes, small onion, red chilies and cumin seeds into a smooth paste.
Steps:
- Heat the oil in a pan or kadai.
- Add mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, and hing.
- When they splutter add curry leaves. Now add the ground paste, turmeric powder, and salt.
- Cook the paste until all the moisture is absorbed. It takes about five to seven minutes. Then turn off the heat.
- Now add rice and mix it well.
That’s it. Tomato Rice is ready. Serve it with raita or potato curry.
Notes:
- Adjust the salt and spices as per your preference.
- I use Roma tomatoes, and they are not tangy. But if you use other tangy varieties, please adjust the salt and chilies accordingly.
- You can use any rice for this tomato rice.
- Please try not to skip curry leaves and channa dal.
📖 Recipe
Tomato Rice | Thakkali Saadam
Ingredients
- 1 cup Uncooked Rice Any rice is preferable basmati or sona masoori
- 2 cups Water
- 1.5 tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
To Grind:
- 3 Ripe tomatoes
- 5 Small onions
- 3 Red chilies
- 1 tbsp Cumin Seeds
To Temper
- 3 tsps Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1 tsp Urad dal
- 2 tsps Channa dal
- ¼ tsp Asafetida
- 5 Curry leaves
Instructions
Prep - Work:
- Cook the rice in your preferred way by adding two cups of water and allow it to cool.
- Grind the tomatoes, small onion, red chilies and cumin seeds into a smooth paste.
Steps:
- Heat the oil in a pan or kadai.
- Add mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, and hing.
- When they splutter add curry leaves. Now add the ground paste, turmeric powder, and salt.
- Cook the paste until all the moisture is absorbed. It takes about five to seven minutes. Then turn off the heat.
- Now add rice and mix it well.
- That's it. Tomato Rice is ready. Serve it with raita or potato curry.
Notes
- Adjust the salt and spices as per your preference.
- I used Roma tomatoes, and they are not tangy. But if you use other tangy varieties, please adjust the salt and chilies accordingly.
- You can use any rice for this tomato rice.
- Please try not to skip curry leaves and channa dal.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
Can you serve Thakkali Saadam cold with Raita?
Yes. As long as the rice is not super dry, you can serve this at room temperature, not too cold.