Tomato Pulihora

Ingredients:

• Rice – 55gms (50ml Cup)

• Water – To Cook Rice (110gms---for 1 cup of rice use 1 3/4cups of water)

• Tomatoes – 2 (200gms)

• Green Chilies – 4

• Curry Leaves – Few

• Cashew Nuts – 3

• Bengal Gram – 1/2tsp

• Black Gram – 1/2tsp

• Mustard Seeds – 1/4tsp

• Fenugreek Seeds – 3

• Asafoetida – A Pinch

• Kashmiri Chili Powder – 1/4tsp

• Salt – To Taste (1/4tsp + 1/8tsp)

• Oil – 1Tbsp + 1tsp

(Online Conversion utility to convert Gms to Cups & Temperatures etc)

Preparations:

Take rice into a bowl and add water. Wash rice well and discard water. Add measured water to the washed rice. Place the rice bowl in a pressure cooker and cook on high flame. After first whistle, cook rice on low flame for 10 to15 minutes and switch off the flame. Allow pressure cooker to cool and then remove the rice bowl. Spread rice in a plate and keep it aside.

Wash tomatoes and chop them finely. Similarly wash green chilies and cut each chili into 8 parts. Wash curry leaves and keep them aside. Cut cashew nuts into pieces.

Method:

Heat a pan and add 1tsp oil to it. When oil is hot add kashmiri chili powder and mix. Immediately (before the chili powder starts to burn) add chopped tomatoes and mix well. Cook the tomatoes covered on high flame for a minute. Open the lid and cook the mixture on high flame only till it is dry. While cooking mash the cooked tomatoes with the back of the ladle to make them into paste. When the mixture is dry transfer it into a bowl and keep it aside.

Heat a pan and add 1Tbsp oil. When oil is hot add cashew nut pieces and fry stirring on low flame till they turn golden in color. Remove the fried cashew nut pieces into a plate. To the remaining oil in the pan add Bengal gram, black gram, fenugreek seeds and fry stirring till they start to change color. Then add mustard seeds and fry stirring till the seeds splutter. Then add green chili pieces, curry leaves and asafetida and mix well. When green chilies are fried well switch off the stove and add the tomato paste, cooked rice and salt. Mix all well and transfer the prepared tomato pulihora into a serving plate and garnish with fried cashew nut pieces.

Points To Observe:

Cook rice as we cook daily either in a rice cooker or a pressure cooker or on a stove top---whichever way it is convenient. While cooking rice, remember to add water that is just sufficient to the quality of rice used---rice should not be mushy after cooking.

Chop tomatoes finely before cooking so that they cook fast and also it would be easy to mash them after they are cooked. Cook the tomato mixture till dry so that when mixed with rice the mixture should not be mushy.

Some cook the rice with tomato puree to make this pulihora---but due to the sourness of tomatoes it would be difficult to cook rice—however if one wishes to cook that way, soak rice for 20 minutes, at least, and then cook so that it would be easy.

If curry leaves are too big then chop them finely so that it gives a nice look and also it can be consumed easily---curry leaves contains Vitamin A and should be consumed.