Thakkali Sadam

Thakkali Sadam is a Tamil Nadu style rice dish made with precooked rice, tomatoes, curry leaves and spices. This easy to make tempered dish is a staple in the households and budget restaurants. Roasted hard boiled eggs, potato stir fry, cucumber salad, vegetable salad, plain yogurt, raita, fryums or papadams go well on the side.

About Thakkali Sadam

Thakkali is the Tamil word for Tomatoes and Sadam for Rice. So it is Tamil Nadu style Tomato Rice that’s simple and fast to make if you have the precooked rice ready. You only need to temper the spices, make the tomato masala and stir in the cooked rice. You can also make this ahead and store in the refrigerator for a day. Reheat it well until steaming hot.

Alternately you can make the tomato masala ahead and store it in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. Reheat and mix it with hot rice when you want to serve. This dish is best served hot or warm. Ingredients like tomatoes and garlic can go bad faster in this dish so it is essential not to keep this at room temperature for long.

This recipe is different from the one pot Tomato Rice and the Tomato Bath I shared earlier. Both the other recipes are to make a one pot meal which are great to go in the lunch boxes. This recipe uses different set of spices and ingredients too. I reserve this Thakkali Sadam when I want to go with precooked rice.

What you need

  • Rice: For this recipe usually good quality small grain rice is used but you may use any that you use regularly. But non-sticky is better because we don’t want mushy and sticky rice here. Like a lot of Indians I pressure cook the rice for a hands-free option. But you may cook it in a rice cooker or in a pot on the stovetop.
  • Tomatoes: Good quality ripe tomatoes are essential for this as they impart tons of flavor to the dish.
  • Tempering ingredients: While whole spices like mustard and cumin bring in unique flavors, lentils like chana dal and urad dal add a crunch & nutty aroma to the dish. Curry leaves, green chilies, ginger and garlic are flavor boosters here.
  • Ground Spices: Red chili powder, garam masala, coriander powder, turmeric and fennel are the ground spice blends used here. For flavor variation you may use pav bhaji masala.

Step by step  Instructions

1. Wash rice in lot of water and cook the rice. I soaked basmati rice for 30 mins. Then cooked in a pressure cooker with cups water for 1 whistle on a medium heat. While the rice was cooling I went ahead making the tomato masala. Heat a pan with ghee or oil. Add mustard and cumin. They will begin to pop soon.

2. Add chana dal, urad dal and cashews.

3. Fry until the dal turns golden. Add hing, slit green chili and curry leaves. Omit green chili if you have young kids at home. Fry until the curry leaves turn aromatic

4. Add onions.

5. Saute until they turn slightly golden or pink.

6. Add chopped garlic or ginger garlic paste. Fry until the garlic losses the raw smell for a minute.

7. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and sprinkle salt.

8. Saute for 3 to 4 mins.

9. Cover and cook until the tomatoes turn completely mushy and soft.

10. Stir in red chili powder, turmeric, garam masala, coriander powder and saunf powder (optional).

11. Saute this mixture until it turns slightly dry, aromatic and begins to ooze out oil. Taste test to adjust and spices. If you want add more. Reserve 2 to 3 tbsp of the tomato masala aside.

12. Transfer the cooled rice and mix gently until the rice blends with the tomato masala. If you want you may add the reserved masala and mix.

13. Add some chopped coriander leaves.

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