Tomato Rice

It's one of my convenient , simple dish normally made for Sunday dinner. Easy to make tasty to the palette.

Ingredients: Serves 4 

Rice                                       2 cups

Oil.                                        2 tbsp

Onions.                                   2 small ( Coarsely sliced)

Homemade Tomato  purée        2 cups*

Bay leaves.                             2 no.

Cloves.                                  4 no.

Cinnamon.                              1 piece

Mustard seeds.                        1 tsp

Cumin seeds.                          1 tsp

Green chilly.                          1 no. Finely chopped 

Curry leaves.                          12

Garlic crushed.                       1 tsp heaped

Ginger paste.                          1 tsp heaped

Red chilly pd.                         1. 1/2 tsp

Salt                                        To taste

Coconut milk powder.             1/2 cup

Water.                                   4 cups

Ghee / clarified butter            4 -6 tsp

Coriander leaves.                    For garnish

Method:

1. Wash and soak rice for 30 min.
2. Dissolve  coconut milk pd in 1 cup warm water
3. In a big non stick pan heat oil. Crackle mustard seeds, cumin seeds.
4. Now add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves. Fry for half a minute .
5. Add curry leaves, green chilly and garlic .
6. Stir and tip in onions. Fry till soft and golden.
7. Add tomato purée , ginger paste and red chilly pd.
8. Cook till it becomes thick and oil separates.
9. Strain the rice and tip into the pan. Add coconut milk and 3 cups of water and salt.
10. Mix well and bring it to a boil.
11. Cover and cook on low heat till rice is done. By then all the water will also be absorbed.
12. Remove from fire. 
13. Garnish with chopped coriander .
14. Pour hot ghee / clarified  butter either on the whole rice or a tsp each on individual plates.
15. Serve hot with pappadam( fried papad) and curd.

Note:

1. Instead of coconut milk pd  you can also use coconut milk available in tetra packs. In that case use 2 tetra packs of 200 ml each, add  enough water to it to make  4 cups of liquid and use this instead of four cups of water mentioned in the recipe.
2. I have used extra virgin olive oil but you can use any vegetable oil.
3. * To make tomato purée , blanch tomatoes in boiling water. Remove skin and purée in a liquidizer.