New and improved tomato rice

This recipe should, by rights, belong to Junkeeri, because she was the one who introduced me to it in the first place. But I love it more than her (tomato rice is my second favorite rice dish, right after masala pulao, and it is definitely on my list of top ten entrees), and over the years I have made it so many times, that I think I can relieve her of its responsibility now :)

Well, anyways, to start with, soak some rice. Preferably basmati (Oh, how I wish I had some basmati). Soak it for an hour or so, or if not, then just soak for as long as is convenient for you. Five minutes is fine if you are in a hurry. The rice should rise a little bit in volume, though not double like bodi. 

Ever since I made biryani with mixed spices, I have been quite taken with spice water. Previously I used just cloves, but this time I used the magic mixture of cloves, cardamom, bay leaves, cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper. And it gave me the best smelling tomato rice ever! Mix all these spices in water, and boil in low heat  until it is time to put water in the rice. The extra boiling doesn't hurt. If you don't have all these spices, go for basic cloves and cardamom, they are the best!

Aside, chop some tomatoes into quarters. This here is 6 tomatoes for 3 cups of rice. Add in some chilly peppers (this is a new addition. Ever since I had Nigerian tomato rice, which was quite hot, I couldn't let go of the idea of hot tomato rice. And it did turn out to be the best tomato rice ever.) 

Blend this mixture, adding water if necessary to create a smooth brew.

Next, heat some oil in a pan and fry the rice. Fry until the rice changes color and becomes slightly golden. A harder way of knowing if the rice is done is the consistency of the rice. When you first pour it into the oil ,its bunches up in little knots that are hard to stir. But once it is cooked, it becomes as smooth as raw grains and slips easily from the ladle. This is more noticeable in large quantities

When the rice is done, pour the flavored water and tomato puree. Add salt to taste. 

Cover, and stir occasionally until water dries up. The consistency should be dry like pulao's. Once rice reaches this stage, check if it is done, which means tender and edible instead of tough. If not done, add water and repeat process until done. Finally, piping hot tomato rice is ready :) Serve with curries, yoghurt or by itself!

Note: I recently had the good fortune to taste Nigerian version of tomato rice called jollof rice. Though it is cooked differently, the taste is almost the same. Jollof rice is cooked by first frying onions and tomatoes in oil, then adding tomato and chilly puree to the mixture. Finally, par boiled rice is added to the gravy. Since the rice is par boiled, it cooks much faster than  tomato rice. Jollof rice, the way I ate, had no spices other than onions, but a lot of chilly pepper. It was a totally delicious and faster alternative to traditional tomato rice. 

jollof rice

Ingredients

Basic

Tomatoes

Rice

Green Chilli

Salt
Oil

Spices (Optional)

Cinnamon

Bay leaves

Cloves

Cardamom

Black Pepper

Nutmeg