Spicy Tomato Pulav

Thanks to all fellow food bloggers who took a peek at my blog and dropped their valuable comments.

Tomatoes are rich in vitamin C(which most of you might know very well), but do you know it can prevent cancer. The presence of pigment lycopene, which gives the red color to the tomatoes is the most powerful antioxidants which can protect us from the free radicals that cause cancer. It's also rich in vitamin A and E, which is good for your skin. All these information, i learnt by reading about health and diet. To me, its pretty much the one and only vegetable(or fruit???) i use in my everyday cooking. Be it dal, chutney, curries and so on, tomatoes are the main ingredient in any indian kitchen. I am sure you guys will agree with this. This spicy tomato pulav is a recipe which i got from my mother-in-law. BTW she is a great cook. You may also call it as tomato rice, but i prefer saying it as tomato pulav because of the varied spices used in this dish. There goes the recipe.

Tomatoes - 5 nos. chopped
Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Red Onion - 1 big chopped
Garlic - 2 pods
Ginger - a small piece
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2 or 3
Aniseeds/Fennel(Saunf) - 1 tsp
Poppy seeds - 1 tsp (optional)
Garam masala powder - 2 tsps
Cinnamon stick, bay leaf, Clove, cardomom - 1 no. each
Coriander leaves
Oil and salt to taste

Wash the rice well in water, drain and set aside. Grind Coconut, green chillies, garlic, ginger, saunf and poppy seeds into paste adding little water. Heat oil in a kadai and the whole spices(lavang elaichi, patta fry for a minute. Add the onion and fry for a minute. Add the ground paste and fry till the raw smell of the paste leaves. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till they turn mushy. Add the garam masala powder and fry for a minute. Then add the rice and mix well till the rice gets coated with the tomato curry. Transfer this to a pressure cooker, adding 3 cups of water. Add salt, coriander leaves and leave the pressure cooker open until it starts to boil. Place the lid and leave it in high until the regulator weight blows twice.
Switch off the flame, let it cool and serve with potato fry or onion-curd raita.


P.S. If you follow the measurements of tomato, rice, water and the time to cook exactly as given above, the pulav will definitely not stick to the bottom of the pressure cooker.