Tomato Biryani (One Pot)

How to make tomato biryani

1. Rinse a couple of times and soak 1 cup seeraga samba rice in water for 30 minutes. You can even use basmati rice or sona masuri rice. After 30 minutes, drain the rice of all the water and keep aside.

2. Rinse and chop the tomatoes. Add them in a blender or grinder jar.

3. Blend to a smooth puree. If you do not have a blender or grinder, then you can even mince or grate the tomatoes.

4. These are the spices that we will be adding in the tomato biryani. Skip stone flower if you do not have it. Remove and keep the below mentioned whole spices aside.

• 1.5 inches cinnamon
• 3 green cardamoms
• 3 cloves
• 1 small to medium sized tej patta (Indian bay leaf)
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
• A small tiny piece of stone flower
• 2 single strands of mace

Making tomato biryani

5. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a thick-bottomed pot or pan. Please do use a thick bottomed pan, otherwise, there are chances that the rice can get browned or burnt from the bottom. Add all the whole spices and saute them till they crackle and turn fragrant.

6. now add ¼ cup sliced onions.

7. Saute onions till they begin to get golden.

8. Add 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste. Mix well.

9. Then add 1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves, 1 tablespoon chopped mint leaves and 1 green chili (chopped). mix well.

10. add the tomato puree. If using store brought tomato puree, then add ½ cup tomato puree. Mix again.

11. Now add ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon red chili powder, ½ teaspoon coriander powder and ¼ teaspoon garam masala powder.

12. Mix the masalas very well with the mixture of tomato puree and other ingredients.

13. Stir and saute for 2 minutes.

14. Now add ¾ to 1 cup of chopped veggies. I used green peas and potatoes. Mix again.

15. Add rice.

16. Mix the rice with the rest of the tomato masala gravy.

Cooking tomato biryani

17. Add 1.5 cups of water. For a softer texture in the rice, you can add ¼ cup more of the water.

18. Then add ½ cup thick coconut milk and salt as per taste. If skipping coconut milk, then overall add 1.75 to 2 cups depending on the quality of rice. You can also use veg stock instead of water.

19. Mix very well. Check the taste of the water and it should be slightly salty. If not, then add a bit more salt.

20. Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and cook tomato biryani on a slow flame for 18 to 20 minutes or until the rice is cooked and all the water is absorbed. Time will vary depending on the size of the pan, thickness of pan and flame intensity. You can check the rice grains once or twice while cooking.

21. Once done, remove the lid. Then gently fluff the rice. In the pic below what you see is a moist sticky consistency in the rice. This stickiness is due to the coconut milk settling on the top. Once you fluff the rice, the stickiness gets distributed throughout the whole biryani.

22. Serve tomato biryani hot with some pickle or raita or your choice.

Few more similar recipes you may like are

• Tomato rice – spicy and tasty South Indian style tomato rice.
• Biryani – Hyderabadi style veg dum biryani.
• Pudina rice – spicy and tasty one pot fragrant mint rice.
• Mushroom biryani – spicy and tasty vegetarian version of Chettinad biryani made with mushrooms.
• Paneer biryani – this is a mildly spiced and delicious dum cooked paneer biryani.