Tomato rice (Thakkali choru)

Ingredients: (Serves-4-5)

• Basmati rice- 3 cups
• Tomato-3 
• Onion-1, thinly sliced
• Green chilly-3-4
• Ginger-1 inch piece,
• Garlic- 3-4,
• Curry leaves- few
• Cilantro-10 sprigs, chopped
• Thick coconut milk- 1 cup
• Whole garam masala- (Cloves-5, Cardamom-5,Cinnamon- 1 inch piece)
• Cashew nut and raisins-1/4 cup
• Butter/veg oil-2 tbsp   
• Salt

Method:

1. Wash rice in plenty of water and drain.
2. Crush together ginger, garlic and green chillies.
3. Dilute thick coconut milk by adding 3.5-4 cups of water.
4. Fry cashews and raisins in butter and keep aside.
5. Thinly slice tomatoes and cook with 1 cup of water. Mash the tomatoes well or strain to get ~1/2-1 cup of puree. Heat oil/ butter in a pan, add cloves, cardamom and cinnamon. Saute for a while and add crushed ginger, garlic, green chilly and curry leaves followed by onion.Stir until the onions are transparent. Add tomato puree and stir until the preparation is thick. Add this into rice along with half of the cilantro, salt and cook the rice in diluted coconut milk (You can use 1.5-2 cups of coconut milk for 1 cup of rice). Garnish with the remaining cilantro, fried cashew nuts and raisins and serve hot with any spicy curry.