Tomato Rice with South Indian Seasonings
This week saw a birthday- another year of life happily completed. It was not a very eventful milestone. Peace is sometimes the best medicine. I celebrated with lots of sleep, and peace and quiet. A recipe that I am working through is this tomato rice with South Indian Seasonings. My birthday gifts include a surprise visit from my brother. Meeting my cousin’s fiancée for the first time.
The story of Tomato Rice or Tomato Baath on my table.
This week I ended up with a mid-week visitor. Lots of excitement for me anyway. This Tomato Baatch makes for a perfect, festive and impromptu meal. I have picked this up from my friend Anju’s table. Over the years I have adapted it to work with brown rice. His recipe has a Mysorean slant. This said, my recipe is an inspired version. I add in a chock full of vegetables and often make this with Brown Basmat Rice.
What is the preferred rice in this recipe?
Now honest confession, I have made this with Basmati rice and it works just fine. However, my friend Anju suggests Ponni Rice. A short grained neutral tasting rice that absorbs the flavors better.
What is Tomato Rice or Bath.
Bhaat or Bath is the Indian word for rice in many parts of India. My friend Anju refers to any vegetable-based rice dishes as bath. This is the Karnataka (state in South India) way to classify homey rice and vegetable dishes. The Baath dishes are named after the vegetable of prominence. So eggplant rice as Vaangi Bath and this tomato rice dish as tomato bhat. However, to be clear grain dishes are also called Baath. For example, the saffron and semolina treat is called Kesari Bath.
Baath dishes differ from the North Indian pulao in their use of spicing. The flavors in a Bath is simpler. They do not necessarily contain a surfeit of fancy items like fried onions or saffron. Bath’s use a simple combination of fresh vegetables, rice and earthy seasonings. All coming together in a great one pot dish.
The Seasons of Tomato Rice or Baath
I love to make this dish a few time during fall. When we still have tomatoes trickling in, an abundance of herbs in the garden and colors all round. It is indeed a beautiful time of the year! Often when winter approaches, I make this tomato rice with frozen or canned tomatoes and split peas.
How to Enjoy your Tomato Rice or Bath
This is a one dish meal. In South India however, that includes a variety of chutney not the least of them is the ever loved and popular coconut chutney.
A simple well flavored and colorful one-dish vegetarian meal that marries tomatoes with the seasonings of Southern Indian.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/8 teaspoon asafetida
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 3 green cardamoms
- 2 - 3 cloves
- 1 2-inch stick cinnamon, broken
- 10-12 curry leaves
- 3 diced tomatoes
- Salt to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 2 dried red chilies
- 1 cup of basmati rice
- 1/2 cup coconut milk (optional, if not using you can increase the amount of water in this dish)
- 13/4 cups of water
- 1/2 cup split peas (soaked for 2 to 3 hours) or 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels
- 1/2 cup raw blanched peanuts
- 1/2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a pan for about 30 minutes and add in the mustard seeds and wait until the seeds crackle.
- Quickly add in the cumin, asafetida and the ginger.
- Add in the green cardamoms, cloves and the cinnamon stick and stir well.
- Add in the curry leaves and the diced tomatoes and mix well.
- Stir in the salt and the turmeric and continue cooking the mixture stirring gently for 3 to 4 minutes until the tomatoes soften and begin to turn saucy.
- Gently add in the rice and stir well.
- Add in the coconut milk (if using) and the water and bring to a gently simmer.
- Cover and cook on medium low heat for 20 minutes.
- While the rice is cooking gently toast the peanuts until the peanuts turn a few shades darker and is aromatic. We tend to like a few darker brown spots while toasting but this needs to be done carefully as it is easy to burn the nuts.
- Remove the cover from the rice, you should have large fragrant reddish golden grains. Turn off the heat and stir in the peanuts and the cilantro and mint.
- Leave the rice covered for another 10 minutes before serving, this allows the moisture to get absorbed and the grains to swell into regal and separate perfection.
The Steaming Pot
Nice recipe! What had struck me first when I heard of ‘bhaat’ dishes in south India was that they aren’t necessarily rice dishes – kesari bhaat, shavige bhaat, for example!
The Steaming Pot recently posted…Gobhi Musallam: A ‘Whole’ Cauliflower Delicacy