Tomato Rice/Thakali Sadam/Tamata Annam

For South Indians rice is a must. Rice being one of the best crops in S.I. and the harvest of which is also celebrated as a festival(Pongal), there are no less varieties of Rice in South India. And with so many types of rice we got to have that many recipes to try it. You visit any vegetarian restaurant in Tamil Nadu in the lunch time they have a series of seasoned Rice varieties..Thakali Sadam(Tamato Rice), Thenga Sadam(Coconut Rice), Sambar Sadam(Lentil gravy Rice), Thayir Sadam(Yogurt Rice), Lemon Rice and the list goes on. 'Sadam' basically means cooked rice in Tamil.

I cook a few versions of Tomato Rice...Here is one of them. Probably the easiest of all.

Ingredients :
4 Cups Cooked Rice ( Preferably Ponni or Sona Masoori Raw rice)
1 Cup Tomato Puree

for Tempering:
2 tsp Sesame oil
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Channa dhall
5 Red chillies broken into pieces
10- 12 Curry leaves;
1 Medium Onion cut into thin stripes
1/2 tsp each of the CCC powder(Chilly, Cumin, Coriander)
Salt to taste
A few Coriander leaves finely chopped

Optional:
1/2 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
A pinch of Hing/Asfoetide

Procedure:
Heat up oil in a Kadai(Wok), allow mustard to splutter.
Add Channa Dhall, fry a little to change the color.
Add red chillies and after they fry add curry leaves and onions and fry them till onion changes color.
If desired add ginger garlic paste and hing at this point and fry.
Now add tomato puree and cook well.
Add the CCC powders and cook for another min.
Now add the rice and salt and mix well for about 1-2min, so that every morsel is evenly coated with the seasoning.
Add coriander leaves and remove form heat.

Serve hot with potato chips, or any dry veggie curry or if are a non-veg with a thick chicken gravy.(Chettinad style- Recipe in the next post)

This is my contribution to the event Mixed Rice Varieties created and hosted by Simple Indian Food - An Easy Cooking Blog.