Tomato Rice With Fried Cabbage

Preparing Time : 40 Minutes
Cooking Time : 30 minutes

Cuisine: South Indian (Andhra)

I am a big fan of tomato and love to add them to every dish (almost ) . One afternoon I thought making tomato rice but with a unique combination of fried cabbage served along with raita .
Amazingly this turned out to be delicious with silky texture and the best part is the addition of  fried cabbage  while cooking .
This is one of my own recipes.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice 1 cup
Ripe tomatoes 4 (large)
 Cabbage  Shredded 1 large cup
Green peas 1 cup
Onion 1 large

Cashews few crushed or whole
Green Chilies 4 to 5(according to taste )
Ginger small piece or 2 large table spoons
Garlic pods 20
Canola Oil 10 table spoons
Ghee 1 table spoon

Whole Garam Masala:
Cloves 4 to5
Cardamom 6
Cinnamon Stick 2 made into pieces
Cumin Seeds 1 teaspoon
Anistar  1
Bay Leaf  1/4 of a leaf

Procedure:
Step 1: Shred 1 cup of cabbage . Wash and rinse  thoroughly . take a non stick pan add about 3 to4 table spoons of canola oil and a pinch of salt , when the oil is ready and not smoking add shredded cabbage and fry it in high flame for about five minutes . Now simmer the flame to medium and let it fry .

It  should look like this after frying , this usually takes not more than 20 minutes . Switch off the stove and add salt (a little )and toss it .

Step 2: Mean while take a blender add tomatoes, ginger, garlic pods , onion, green chilies and make into a smooth paste (without adding water ). First give it a pulse so, that tomato wont spill out .

Step 3: Now in a pressure cooker add about 5 table spoons of oil and a table spoon of ghee , heat the oil.When ghee melts add the whole garam masala and cashews .

Step 4: When cashews turn brown add the masala paste prepared ,and fry until it oozes out oil.

Step 5: Now add green peas , toss them and let it cook for about 4 minutes until the green peas become tender.

Step 6: Wash and rinse 1 cup of basmati rice . Add the basmati rice to the masala , toss it carefully without breaking the rice.

Step 7: Now add about 1 cup of water , and fried cabbage , give it a good stir.
  

Step 8: Add 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala and salt to taste. Give a good stir. Fix the pressure cooker lid and cook in a high flame until you get steam .  Now put on the whistle and simmer the flame to low . Let it cook until three whistles. Now switch off the flame . 

Step 9: Wait until pressure escapes and then open the cooker lid . Serve hot topped with fried cabbage and onion raita .

Notes:

• The masala paste contains more moisture so avoid adding more water , if you add more water your dish ends up to be mushy not silky .
• I used only green peas , you can use carrots or beets or any veggies which don't dominate tomato 
•  While preparing masala paste be sure to add one by one tomato at a time while giving pulses , to avoid spilling out .
• Shock the shredded cabbage in cold water before frying to get the crisp texture . this technique even helps to fry them quickly. This technique fries the cabbage  evenly and makes it look like deep fried .
• Using nonstick pan saves a lot of oil , so, be sure to fry the cabbage in a non stick wok .
• Addition of salt to the oil before adding cabbage bring out all the moisture in the cabbage and aids  to absorb less oil .