Instant Pot tomato rice
Indian tomato rice cooked with ginger, garlic and warm spices until every grain is soaked in tangy tomato, a cheap, cozy one-pot dinner with peas.
- 45 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $1.42 a serving
- 380 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups basmati rice
- 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 serrano pepper, chopped
- 3 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp garam masala
- ¾ cup frozen peas
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 cup plain yogurt, for serving (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 bay leave
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- 1 tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1¼ tsp salt
- 1¼ cups water
Each serving has about 380 calories, 9 g protein, 68 g carbs and 8 g fat, and costs about $1.42 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No basmati rice? Jasmine rice or long-grain white rice works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No tomatoes? Roma tomatoes work.
- No frozen peas? Frozen mixed vegetables work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No plain yogurt? Plain Greek yogurt works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice until the water runs clear, cover it with cold water and soak 15 minutes. well.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Timer: 15 min
Meanwhile, the onion, the garlic, the ginger, the serrano and chop the tomatoes.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Grate. Grating means rubbing food across the holes of a grater to make fine shreds or flakes. It spreads cheese, garlic or ginger evenly through a dish so it melts right in.
How you’ll know: Even shreds fall off the back of the grater, and you stop while the piece is still big enough to hold.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Dolly’s tip: Ripe, soft tomatoes melt into the rice. Hard ones stay in chunks.Set the Instant Pot to and heat the oil. Add the bay leaf and cumin for 30 seconds, then the onion, and cook, stirring, 4 minutes, until soft.
Sauté. Sautéing means cooking cut-up food in a little oil or butter over medium to medium-high heat, stirring now and then. It cooks things quickly and browns them lightly without burning.
How you’ll know: You hear a steady, lively sizzle, not a hiss and spit, and the edges start to soften and color.
Timer: 4 min
Add the garlic, ginger and serrano and stir 1 minute.
Timer: 1 min
Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, turmeric, garam masala, paprika, cayenne and salt.
Cook, mashing the tomatoes with your spoon, 5 minutes, until soft and pulpy.
Timer: 5 min
Press Cancel.
Pour in the water and scrape the bottom well. Add the rice and peas and press the rice down under the liquid.
Lock the lid, set the valve to Sealing and cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes.
Timer: 5 min
Let the pressure come down on its own for 10 minutes, then turn the valve to Venting.
Timer: 10 min
Dolly’s tip: Keep your hand and face away from the valve. The steam is very hot.Fish out the bay leaf, fluff with a fork and scatter the cilantro over. Serve with yogurt on the side.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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