TOMATO RICE

Every day after school I would rush back home hoping that Kanchi didi, our cook would have made Bhutey ko bhaat. Bhutey ko bhaat is essentially stale rice that is fried... the cook decides whether it is fried with just cumin seeds/ onions/ onions tomatoes green chillies or a whole lot of veggies. Kanchi didi used to make these amazing varities of bhutteyko bhaat. Later on when I started discovering and exploring South Indian cuisine I discovered a huge variety of rices/ saadams which were essentially bhuttey ko bhaats in different forms...lemon rice, curd rice, tamarind rice, tomato rice, coconut rice, bissi belle bhaat etc. 

Yesterday my neighbour sent me a huge bag of ripe red tomatoes from her garden. As I was feeling lazy to cook a complete meal I made this tomato rice.

WE NEED

1.  Rice 2 cups
2. 6 Ripe red tomatoes (you can use less but I like my rice moist with the juices so I add more tomatoes)
3. 1 small onion
4. 3 cloves of garlic
5. 4 green chillies
6. 1/2 tsp mustard seeds  
7. 5-6 curry leaves
8. 1/2 tsp garam masala
9. 1 pinch asafoetida
10. 3 tbs oil 

LETS GET GOING

1. Cook the rice and keep aside
2. Chop the tomatoes, onions and green chillies finely
3. Grind the garlic to a paste
4. Heat oil in a pan and add the asafoetida
5. Sputter the mustard seeds and curry leaves
6. Add the chopped onions and garlic paste and cook till the onions till transluscent
7. Add the tomatoes and green chillies.
8. Cover and cook on a low flame for 15 minutes.
9. Add the salt and garam masala. Cook on a high flame for 5 minutes. Mash the mixture with a ladle as it gets cooked. 
10. Mix the cooked tomatoe masala with the cooked rice and serve. 

An intersting thing about tomato rice is letting it stand for about an hour a two improves the taste as the masala seeps deep into the rice grains giving a more flavoursome rice.  I discovered this as the tomato rice that a colleague brought from home in a tiffin box always tasted great. I simply thought that his wife was a great good till I suffered from pregnancy induced midnight hunger pangs and had to do with leftover tomato rice from dinner. It was a good discovery no doubt.:)