Spicy Tomato Rice

Tomatoes are one of my favourites and just can't imagine my pantry without these luscious and gorgeous red beauties. Tomatoes come with fully packed minerals and anitoxidants. I came across Tomato Rice recipe during T&T last month in Suganya's Tasty Palettes. That was for the first time I made it and I liked it a lot. You can have a look at the picture here. With some variations to suit my tastebuds, I present you my version of Tomato Rice. This tomato rice is called 'spicy' because it calls for green chilles, red chilli powder and black pepper. The rich juice oozing out of tomatoes along with perfect blend of aromatic spices when infused with green peas and paneer gives a tantalizing taste to your taste buds.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup Rice
• 2 ripe Tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
• 1/2 cup Green Peas, washed and soaked in water
• 5-6 cubes Paneer
• 1 Onion, peeled and sliced
• 2 Green Chillies, deseeded
• 1/2 tbsp Ginger-Garlic paste
• 1/2 tbsp Red chilli powder
• 1/4 tbsp Turmeric powder
• 2 springs Coriander leaves
• 1 tbsp fresh Lime juice
• Salt

TEMPERING/TADKA/POPPU:

• 1 tbsp Mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp Cumin seeds/Jeera
• 1 tbsp Urad dal
• 1 tbsp Chana dal/split Chickpeas
• 1/4 Black pepper
• 1 star Anise
• 2 Cardamoms
• 2 Cloves
• 1 Cinnamon
• 1 dry Red chilli
• Oil

TO MARINATE PANEER:

• 1 tbsp Red chilli powder
• pinch Turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp Ginger-Garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp Garam masala
• salt

PREPERATION:

• Cook rice and spread on a plate to cool.
• Mix the ingedients under 'marinate' and add paneer cubes. Leave it for 15 minutes. Deep fry and set aside.
• In a heavy bottom cooking vessel or kadai add oil, and fry paneer cubes and set aside. Now add the ingredients listed under 'tempering' one by one.
• When the tempering start to change color add onions and ginger-garlic paste. Cook till onions are translucent. Now add tomatoes, green peas, paneer, green chillies, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt. Cook till tomatoes are soft and completely done.
• Now add cooked rice to the above mixture and mix well. Sprinkle fresh coriander leaves and lime juice. Turn off the flame. Serve hot.
• Last but not least add your 'love' to make the dish 'YUMMY'.

This tomato rice is going to particiapte in FIC-Red&Green hosted by Neha of # Tasty Recipes . This colorful FIC is started by Sunshinemom of TongueTicklers. As we can indulge without any sidedish this tomato rice is also going to participate in Single Serving Recipes hosted by Sahaja of My Experiments In Kitchen.