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Bowl of delicious homemade pressure cooker tomato rice served warm for school and office lunch box
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Easy Tomato Rice Recipe In Pressure Cooker – Thakkali Sadam Recipe

How to make easy tomato rice / thakkali sadam directly in a pressure cooker – quick, flavorful South Indian lunch box recipe!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Lunch box recipes
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: how to make tomato rice using pressure cooker, south indian style tomato rice, thakkali sadam, thakkali sadam recipe, tomato rice in pressure cooker, Tomato rice recipe
Servings: 3 servings
Author: Chitra

Ingredients

Main Ingredients

  • 1 cup Steamed rice / Boiled rice (approx. 200g / 7 oz) (or Ponni / Sona Masoori / Basmati rice)
  • 4 big Ripe tomatoes (approx. 300g / 10.5 oz) finely chopped
  • 2 medium Big onions (approx. 150g / 5.3 oz) finely chopped
  • 1 no Green chilli long one finely chopped (or 3 slit chillies for spicy rice)
  • ⅛ tsp Turmeric powder
  • 1 tsp Red chilli powder (approx. 3g / 0.1 oz) (add 1.5 tsp for spicy rice)
  • 3 tbsp Cooking oil (approx. 45 ml / 1.5 fl oz)
  • 2 inch Cinnamon stick
  • 2 nos Cloves
  • 5 cloves Garlic finely chopped
  • few sprigs Curry leaves
  • 1 fistful Fresh coriander leaves finely chopped
  • Salt as needed
  • 2 cups Water (approx. 480 ml / 16 fl oz) (use 1.75 cups for basmati rice)

Instructions

  • Wash and chop the onion, tomatoes, green chilli, garlic cloves, curry leaves, and coriander leaves very finely. Wash and soak the rice in 2 cups of water for 30 minutes. (If using basmati rice, use 1.75 cups of water).
    Finely chopped onions, ripe tomatoes, green chillies, garlic cloves, curry leaves, and coriander leaves arranged for tomato rice
  • Heat oil in a pressure cooker base. Add cinnamon stick and cloves. Add finely chopped garlic cloves and sauté for a second. Then add the chopped onions and sauté till translucent. Add finely chopped green chilli and curry leaves; sauté for a few seconds.
    Sautéing whole cinnamon and cloves with chopped garlic in hot oil in a pressure cooker
  • Add finely chopped tomato pieces and required salt for the rice. Sauté until tomatoes turn pulpy and mushy. Add turmeric powder and red chilli powder; mix well for a few seconds.
    Cooking chopped tomatoes with turmeric powder, red chilli powder, and salt until soft and mushy
  • Lastly, add the soaked rice along with the measured soaking water. Mix well and check for taste, adding more salt or red chilli powder if needed. Close cooker lid and pressure cook on low-medium flame for 1 whistle (takes about 8 to 10 minutes). Turn off flame and let steam release naturally.
    Adding soaked rice and measured water to the spicy tomato masala gravy in the pressure cooker
  • Open the lid after the pressure is completely released. Gently fluff the hot cooked rice with a fork without breaking the grains. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves, mix gently, and serve hot with onion raita and papad.
    Gently fluffing hot cooked tomato rice with a fork and garnishing with finely chopped coriander leaves

Video

https://youtube.com/watch?v=rB3-Zuh3E0s%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded

Notes

  • Add more chilli powder if you want spicy tomato rice.
  • Adding coriander leaves gives a nice flavor to this rice. So do not skip it.
  • You can also add mint leaves along with curry leaves if you like the flavor of mint leaves.
  • I have used steamed rice / puzhungal arisi. You can use basmati rice or raw rice. But soak the rice in water for minimum 30 minutes to get fluffy, soft and grainy rice.