One of my all time favourite recipes that my mother used to whip up for me as a child when I wanted to eat something ‘nice’ ,something different and chatpata! It takes all of half an hour to make and tastes yummy!
Spicy Tomato Rice
Ingredients:
4 tbps or more Tomato Pickle (available in Indian or Asian grocery
stores)
Note: depending on how spicy one prefers this dish this quantity can be increased or decreased
3 cups cooked white rice
2 large onions diced
1 cup cashewnuts
1 cup dry roasted peanuts, powdered
(Can be made in well advance; stores well over a month in the fridge)
2 tbps Kasuri Methi (available in Indian or Asian grocery
stores)
1 large green chilli sliced thin
1 tsp lemon juice.
Salt to taste
For the tadka:
2 tbps sunflower oil or ghee
1 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 pinch of hing
Mix the tomato pickle into the rice well. Nothing substitutes using you hands to mixing the pickle well, so don’t hesitate! Set this aside.
In a reasonably large non-stick kadhai or skillet heat the oil for tempering.
Once the oil is hot add the hing, jeera and mustard seeds. Let them start crackling and then add the onions and sliced chilli.
Sauté′ until the onions are translucent.
Now add in the cashews and fry until they just change colour lightly.
Add in the pickle rice and mix well. Let this fry on medium heat for about 2 mins.
Now add the kasuri methi and peanut powder into the skillet and mix well.
Allow the mix to fry for 3-4 mins on high heat continuously turning it all the while.
To add that tangy zip, once you have turned off the heat, add in a teaspoon of lemon juice.
Serve hot with yoghurt or raita or papad.
The beauty of this recipe lies in its flexibility -the ingredients can all be changed and substituted as per taste. One could use leftover rice to make it. The pickle could be any Indian pickle ranging from mango, to mixed vegetable, to ginger, to lime to ripe red chilli pickle! The quantity used can be changed to suit your threshold for spice. You can use unsalted butter or ghee or oil for the tempering too. Similarly one could use cashews or slivers of almonds, or walnuts or pine nuts, add in more peanut powder or totally avoid it!
On a day when one is lethargic about cooking here is an easy preparation to please the fussiest palates at home!
Bon appetite!
