South Indian
Tomato Rice
Tomato Rice is South Indian home cooking, eaten at lunch and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups rice
- 4 tomato
- 1 onion
- 2 green chilies
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp chana dal
- 1 tsp urad dal
- 15 curry leaves
- 3 tbsp neutral oil
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 2.5 cups water
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Heat the oil in a pressure pan and let the mustard seeds pop, then fry the chana dal and urad dal until golden.
- Add the curry leaves, green chilies, ginger, garlic, and onion and cook until the onion softens.
- Stir in the tomato and turmeric and cook until the tomato breaks down into a soft, jammy base.
- Add the rinsed rice, water, and salt, close the lid, and cook for 2 whistles, then let the pressure release naturally.
- Fluff gently with a fork, stir through the cilantro, and serve warm.
Serve it with
A South Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Tomato Rice, read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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What it is eaten with
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The sharp little thing
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Something cool and fresh
A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Tomato Rice carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Moderate
- Protein
- Low
- Food groups it covers
- Grains and Vegetables
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Tomato Rice takes about 30 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is easy going. It is eaten at lunch and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on rice, tomato, and onion.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from South India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.