Apologize for not posting for a long time, but there is a
reason out there. Being a working woman,
I hardly find any time on weekdays and weekends are the only hope to pursue my
hobbies or take up my passion but weekends are getting busier and busier at
home. Last three weekends, I was tightly
engaged at home with lots of guests and house chores. As I was out of home on business trip the
whole December, I had to catch up with lot of missed events. With
many and multiple things running through, I had no time left to sit for blogging.
Moving on to today's post, this is a tomato rice prepared in
biryani version. I had seen many fellow
bloggers post on seeraga samba rice but never been curious to try it out. DH went for a team lunch at a famous restaurant
here and was all praising about the biryani prepared with Seeraga Samba
Rice. After DH's repeated praises, I was
very inquisitive to try it out at home and that is how I got introduced to this
rice.
When I went to super market, I got a packet of a superior
brand and found it equally expensive as basmati rice. The grains are short and seen approximately a
third the size of a grain of basmati rice.
The first thing that attracted me when I opened the packet was the
fragrance. I just loved the aromatic smell
of the rice. The flavor is very distinct
and the taste lasted even after finishing the meal. I also found it to be little starchy and not
fluffy in texture when it is cooked.
INGREDIENTS:
Seeraga Samba Rice - 1.5 cups
Tomato - 1/2 kg
Onion (sliced) - 2
Green peas (Optional)
- 1 cup
Coconut milk (Extracted from fresh grated coconut) - 3 cups
Mint leaves - 1 cup (tightly packed)
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt - To taste
To grind:
Small onion - 8-10 (peeled)
Green chilies - 3-4
Ginger - 1" piece
Garlic pods - few
To temper:
Cinnamon - 1 stick
Bay leaf - 1
Cloves - few
Preparation:
1. Wash and soak the rice for 10 minutes.
Drain out the water completely later.
2. Extract the milk from coconut. You can use store brought coconut milk
too. I always prefer home based.
3. Slice the onions and keep it ready.
4. Grind the items given in to grind section.
5. Wash and grind the tomatoes.
6. Heat oil in pressure cooker, throw in the tempering
items, and when it sizzles, add the sliced onions and later mint leaves. Later add the ground masala and mix well.
7. Add the ground
tomatoes, green peas, salt, chilly powder and keep in flame until the mixture
gets thicken and the raw smell goes off.
Lastly, add the rice and 3 cups of coconut milk. I read in the rice packet that for one cup of
rice, it is okay to add 1.5 cups of water.
As there is some juicy extract from tomatoes, I reduced the water quantity
slightly. Replacing coconut milk in
place of water gave a rice taste to the dish but it is also okay to add half
coconut milk and half water. Pressure
cook for one whistle and switch off the flame.
Mix well with a fork gently once the pressure releases.
8. As told earlier,
the rice is little starchy in nature but the taste was more addictive and ended
up eating more finally :-)
