Kannada
Tomato Bhath
- Duration: 30 minutes
- Serves: 4 people
-
Spice Level: Medium
Authenticity Slice
The dish is best made with the Sona Masuri variety of rice in which the grains do not stick to each other on being pressure-cooked. Pre-cooked rice, after being freshly run through boiling water and then strained, is generally used as the base of the dish.
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Trivia Tadka
Tomato rice is popular across the globe and comes in many regional variations. Be it in Spain, West Africa (where some insist the dish originated), or south India, this dish has been heartily consumed for over 2 centuries. In Karnataka, Tomato Baath is one of the many main course rice dishes that are often made using leftover rice. The dish is made of some basic ingredients - rice, tomatoes and tomato paste, onion, salt and red pepper. Beyond these, nearly any kind of vegetable or spice can be added in for variation, the choice depending on the region of the state it is being made in.
Ingredients
- Cooked rice (1 cup)
- Tomatoes, chopped (3)
- Desi ghee (3 tbsp)
- Onions, finely chopped (2, medium-sized)
- Kadipatta (curry leaves) (4)
- Tejpatta (bay leaves) (2)
- Hara dhania (coriander leaves), chopped (1 ½ cup)
- Salt (to taste)
- Kaju (cashew nuts), broken roughly (5)
- Ginger-garlic paste (1 tsp)
For special tomato rice masala:
- Coconut, grated (¼ cup)
- Small onions (4)
- Hari elaichi (green cardamom) (1)
- Laung (cloves) (2)
- Hari mirch (green chillies) (6)
Method
- For the special tomato rice masala: Grind all the ingredients into a paste in a mixer-grinder. If needed, add in some water to perfectly smoothen the paste.
- Heat the ghee in a pressure cooker and add the chopped onions, ginger-garlic paste, kadipatta, tejpatta and kaju to it.
- Keep frying till the onions turn pink. Then, add the tomatoes.
- Keep stirring till the tomatoes turn soft.
- Next, add the special masala paste and fry the mixture till the oil begins to separate from it.
- Add the rice and mix thoroughly.
- Add 1¼ cups of water. (If not cooking in a pressure cooker, you will need to add 2 cups of water.)
- Pressure-cook the rice, timing it to 2 whistles, and then turn off the flame.
- Let the steam escape naturally.
- Open the cooker lid and gently run a fork through the rice to ensure that the grains remain separated.
- Garnish the Tomato Baath with hara dhania and serve hot with curd and salad.
