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    Home » Rice, Noodles and Pasta » Quick and Simple Tomato Rice For Kids

    Quick and Simple Tomato Rice For Kids

    Published: Aug 18, 2009 · Modified: Mar 23, 2024 by Srivalli · 12 Comments

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    This quick and simple Tomato Rice is a delicious one-pot meal you can make for your toddlers. Since it's so easy to make, this also works well lunch boxes.

    Necessity they say is the mother of all new inventions. Right, I am not about to dispute that. Just confirming that this has indeed been the case in me coming up with new versions of the old dishes.

    Kids, I tell you, can bring out the best and worst depending on your mood. My daughter as I have said is a very picky eater and I was scared the boys would turn out to be the same. Luckily there are certain dishes they don't mind eating.

    Like after we introduced chicken to them, they only say they want Chikki buva. Though they hardly eat the chicken. I realized they like the masala part of it. So I ended up making Kurmas and mix it with rice and send to school.

    Though the box used to come back clean, I always know it used to get dried up. So have struck to the dal and rasam rice every day. I know I am doomed the moment they stop eating it.

    Over a period, I have evolved the basic ghee rice into Jeera rice and into many varieties. One fine day we took them to a restaurant, where they liked the biryani, though they hardly eat the chicken as usual. That prompted me to research the right texture and a dish that got their liking.

    Quick Tomato Rice for Kids

    Disclaimer: This is no way suitable for adults, this is most suitable for a toddler of 2 - 3 old. If you still persist in making it for your older kids, then you are most welcome but do warn them that they could get hooked to this!

    The evolution of this rice dish is truly remarkable, that I feel I should record it. Kids don't like "thol" referring to the onions or tomatoes used in the in the dish. When I have to feed three hungry kids, I can't afford to sit and sort.

    So, I do the next best thing in using either big pieces or as puree.

    I finally decided when I am going to struggle to remove out those onions, I might as well not add. Even if I add, I dice them into big chunks and add, so that it's easy to remove. You really can't expect a 2+ yr to eat onions! Then once I added turmeric as its a norm to add it to everything!

    Kids refused to eat by seeing it all red. They said it's going to be spicy!  They just snacked for their dinner.

    In the end, this was the recipe that worked fine for them. I just stuck to it without changing anything. When this is served for adults in the home, I add some spicy side dish to take care of the bland rice. This time I served it with Baby Potato Curry. For a spicy version of this tomato pulao, you can check this out.

    Aloo Masala for Quick Tomato Rice
    Aloo Masala with Quick Tomato Rice
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    • Ingredients
    • Instructions
    • Notes
    • Recipe

    Pin This for Later!

    Quick Tomato Rice

    Ingredients

    For the Rice

    1 cup Basmati Rice
    1.5 cup Water
    3/4 cup Tomatoes
    1/4 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
    3/4 tsp Red Chili Powder or you can use 1 green chili if you want
    Salt to taste
    2 to 3 tsp Ghee

    Whole Spices

    1 Bay Leaf
    1/4 tsp Cumin seeds
    2 Cloves
    1 inch Cinnamon
    1 Cardamom

    Instructions

    Wash and soak rice for 15 - 20 mins.
    Heat a nonstick pan with ghee, add in the whole spices, sauté well for 2 mins. When the cumin starts spluttering, add in the ginger garlic paste and green chilies if using. Sauté well.
    Then, add the chopped tomatoes, if you are using red chili powder add at this stage, along with salt. Simmer and cover with a lid and cook till the tomatoes get really soft. It takes about 5 mins when you cook on high and keep stirring it.
    Add the drained rice and sauté well so that the rice is well coated. Then add water. Adjust salt, cover with the lid and cook on high flame, until the water starts boiling.
    Then, simmer and cook it covered with a lid for 10 mins. In between, stir it once but take care not to break the rice.
    Normally after the first boil, it takes about 5 mins to get cooked. But to get the right texture, you can switch off and let the rice rest for a while over the stove.

    Notes

    If you are adding green chilies, make sure you don't slit open the entire chili as seeds will come out and can be spicy for the little ones. I have found that instead of using Red chili powder works out best.
    The rice gets its red colour from the well mashed tomatoes. This lends the rice a nice red colour without being very spicy. If your kids are like mine, remember not to add turmeric.
    When I am not using Basmati, I use Sona Masuri, for which I add about 2 + 1/4 cups of water.
    If your kids like to eat onions, please do add them along with whatever other veggies can be included. As per the doctor's guidance, we can include 2 tbsp of ghee to the kids' diet if you haven't served them that quantity, you can add it to this rice.

    Recipe

    Aloo Masala for Quick Tomato Rice
    Print Pin

    Quick and Simple Tomato Rice!

    This quick and simple Tomato Rice is a delicious one-pot meal you can make for your toddlers. Since it's so easy to make, this also works well lunch boxes.
    Course Lunch Box, Main Dish - Rice
    Cuisine India
    Keyword Easy Kids Lunch Box Recipe
    By Cook Method Stovetop
    Occasion Kids Lunch Box
    By Diet Kid Friendly
    Dish Type Combo Dishes
    Prep Time 5 minutes minutes
    Cook Time 15 minutes minutes
    Total Time 20 minutes minutes
    Servings 4 people
    Author Srivalli

    Ingredients

    For the Rice

    • 1 cup Basmati Rice
    • 1/2 cup Water
    • 3/4 cup Tomatoes
    • 1/4 tsp Ginger Garlic Paste
    • 3/4 tsp Red Chilli Powder (Or you can use 1 green chilli if you want)
    • Salt to taste
    • 2 - 3 tsp Ghee

    Whole Spices

    • 1 Bay Leaf
    • 1/4 tsp Cumin Seeds
    • 2 Cloves
    • 1 inch Cinnamon
    • 1 Cardamom

    Instructions

    • Wash and soak rice for 15 - 20 mins.
    • Heat a nonstick pan with ghee, add in the whole spices, sauté well for 2 mins. When the cumin starts spluttering, add in the ginger garlic paste and green chilies if using. Sauté well.
    • Then, add the chopped tomatoes, if you are using red chili powder, add at this stage, along with salt. Simmer and cover with a lid and cook till the tomatoes get really soft. It takes about 5 mins when you cook on high and keep stirring it.
    • Add the drained rice and sauté well so that the rice is well coated. Then, add water. Adjust salt, cover with the lid and cook on high flame, until the water starts boiling.
    • Then, simmer and cook it covered with a lid for 10 mins. In between, stir it once but take care not to break the rice.
    • Normally, after the first boil, it takes about 5 mins to get cooked. But, to get the right texture, you can switch off and let the rice rest for a while over the stove.

    Notes

    • If you are adding green chilies, make sure you don't slit open the entire chili as seeds will come out and can be spicy for the little ones. I have found that instead of using Red chili powder works out best.
    • The rice gets its red colour from the well mashed tomatoes. This lends the rice a nice red colour without being very spicy.
    • If your kids are like mine, remember not to add turmeric.
    • When I am not using Basmati, I use Sona Masuri, for which I add about 2 + 1/4 cups of water. If your kids like to eat onions, please do add them along with whatever other veggies can be included.
    • As per the doctor's guidance, we can include 2 tbsp of ghee to the kids' diet if you haven't served them that quantity, you can add it to this rice.
    Tried this recipe?Mention @spicingyourlife_ or tag #spicingyourlife_!
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Raaga says

      August 18, 2009 at 5:01 pm

      yummy... I could get addicted to such stuff! Why only kids?

      Reply
    2. S says

      August 18, 2009 at 5:21 pm

      Sri,

      I feel even adults will love tomato rice this way. Looks so tempting. 🙂

      Reply
    3. Sudeshna says

      August 18, 2009 at 5:22 pm

      Sri,

      I feel even adults will love this recipe. The pics look so tempting :).

      Reply
    4. Mriganayani says

      August 18, 2009 at 10:58 pm

      First - I have to congratulate you - you have 3 kids and you still can cook and blog about it! I bow down to you - O Supreme One!

      This kind of a tomato rice is comfort food for even adults like me.

      Looks great!

      Reply
    5. Rekha shoban says

      August 19, 2009 at 10:27 am

      nice combination tomato rice and aloo...

      Reply
    6. Parita says

      August 19, 2009 at 12:06 pm

      why kids only, i love it too 🙂

      Reply
    7. Priya Narasimhan says

      August 19, 2009 at 12:10 pm

      this is a perfect dish for my 2 yesr old son..i think i too will like it. 🙂 bookmarking it..

      Reply
    8. Pavithra says

      August 19, 2009 at 12:58 pm

      Oh i love tomato rice... yummy ... Looks tempting recently me too posted this. Hey u have 3 kids wow ur managing everything ur really great yah..hat off to u.

      Reply
    9. Minu says

      August 19, 2009 at 3:42 pm

      I too love tomato rice.
      Great!!!

      pl send me a copy of your menu planner and also pl include me in your cooking challenge.

      Reply
    10. Jhanani says

      August 19, 2009 at 9:46 pm

      Hi Valli,

      You have a company, that is, my daughter. She is also picky eater.
      She says all those things which u have mentioned.

      I usually add onions, but now I think I should follow your recipe exactly. Will post my results soon.
      Thanks a lot.

      Reply
    11. Divya Vikram says

      August 20, 2009 at 6:23 pm

      Rice looks pretty and delicious Valli!.

      Reply
    12. Nirmala says

      August 25, 2009 at 11:40 am

      Yeah Valli. I can undersatnd every letter of your rant. My two kids have 2 diff tastes. One loving the masala and th other loving the dal kind. U can imagine the chaos. One tip I would give to make thm eat onions. When making kurma I would saue the onions till soft and translucent and would grind it as a paste and add to the kurma. Not only it gives good flavour but also they eat them 🙂 Else I would finely dice it and add. They can't identify its onion 😉 But am sure these are time taking.

      Reply

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