Recipe for Tomato Rice | Tomato Biryani

Last updated on May 27th, 2025 at 12:09 pm

Recipe for tomato rice - step-by-step instructions. Rich, delicious, and easy Tomato Rice recipe cooked in lusciously sweet coconut milk. A delicious rice dish with mellow flavors!

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I don't know about you but it is pretty rare of me to go without tomatoes for an entire day. Come to think of it, I may only know a handful number of dishes that are made without tomatoes. I'm sure tomatoes are the main ingredient in many different cuisines across the world. So I took a moment just now to be thankful for having this fruit/vegetable, lol.

This Tomato Rice is officially the most cooked dish at our household. I'm tired, I make this. I'm returning home from a vacay, I crave this. I don't have a bunch of veggies at home, I make this. Suffice to say that I make this Tomato Biryani at least once a fortnight, which may seem too frequent but this is one of those dishes that we never ever get bored of. I honestly don't know why or how.

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To me, this is an exquisite dish and it is so fulfilling. I like to call this a Biryani more than it is a bowl of rice. Because this recipe for tomato rice has just about all the ingredients that I use for a biryani PLUS some lusciously rich coconut milk. It could just easily be the perfect lunch when paired with a good side dish. Let's see how to make this!

Recipe for Tomato Rice:

Like I've rambled on about it, this rice dish is a one-pot biryani; not your regular tomato rice which involves mixing of masala paste with rice. A neat and simple dish that you can make it under 20 minutes.

So what goes into this Tomato Rice / Tomato Biryani:

The reason I love this Tomato Biryani is that there is no other ingredient to overpower the flavor of tomatoes. The most important ingredient in this recipe for tomato rice, next to the tomatoes, is the coconut milk. Coconut milk actually accentuates the flavor of the rice and tomatoes. Other ingredients are pretty straightforward, just the regular onions, chilies, ginger garlic paste, and some whole spices. The ingredient list couldn't get any simpler than this for an Indian Rice dish.

Serving Suggestions:

At home, we are always more than happy going minimalistic whenever I make this Tomato Biryani and have it just with Raita. However, this rice is an excellent option when you have a few vegetarians or vegans coming over. You can make just about any side dish to go with this recipe for tomato rice; be it vegetarian or meat-based. Simple butter-fried mushrooms or fried eggs go well with this Biryani.

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Nutrition:

I would definitely call this a healthy dish considering the amount of good fat coconut milk adds to this rice. There aren't any less desirable or unhealthy ingredients that go into this. Each serving packs

Storage Instructions:

This recipe for tomato rice comes together in 20 minutes, so I would suggest you make it whenever you want it. However, if you're meal prepping or have leftovers, you can store it in the fridge for 1-2 days and in the deep freezer for up to a week. To use, thaw the frozen tomato biryani overnight in the refrigerator or on your kitchen counter for a few hours. Once thawed, sprinkle some water over the rice and microwave to heat it.

Special Diets:

This recipe for tomato rice is super friendly to dieters, except maybe keto since this has rice. However, this tomato Biryani is completely vegan/vegetarian, lactose-free, gluten-free. There's also the MCT fats and lauric acid from Coconut milk, making this dish almost superfood, lol. Therefore, I think this dish is a perfect diet when had in moderate helpings.

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Variations and Substitutions:

The main variations you can do is use Seeragasamba Rice in place of Basmati rice; if you have access to it. Seeragasamba is aromatic short grain rice native to South India. I use it most of the time to make any type of biryanis. And like Basmati, it goes really well with coconut milk.

If you aren't a fan of tomato chunk in your rice, or if you don't have fresh tomatoes but have Tomato Passata, you can use tomato puree or Tomato Passata in place of cubed tomatoes.

Extracting Coconut Milk:

If you're using canned coconut make sure to look for Thai or Indian style coconut milk which is basically meant for cooking. On the other hand, if you have a whole coconut or packed shredded fresh coconut, you can extract your own coconut milk, and here's how:

• Add 300 grams of coconut meat (chopped or shredded) to a blender
• Top it off with 250 ml of water and blend until the coconut meat has reduced down to a paste-like texture.
• Pour this through a fine-mesh strainer and squeeze out all the milk from the coconut meat.
• This is your first thick extract and you'll have about 350 ml of it.
• To get your second extract, add 350 ml of water to the leftover coconut meat, pulse it a few times and pass it through the fine mesh strainer to strain it.
• You'll have 350ml of thin extract. This step is completely optional and is usually done to get any milk out of the coconut meat as possible. Actually, you can just use water instead of this thin extract.

How to make this Tomato Biryani in Instant Pot:

Making this Tomato Rice / Tomato biryani is so simple and can easily be made with pantry ingredients or the ingredients can easily be found in any store. Let's see how to make this!

This recipe for tomato rice calls for the following ingredients:

• Coconut Oil - 3 tbsp 
• Cloves - 3 whole 
• Cinnamon Stick - 2 inch 
• Cardamom Pods - 4 whole
• Star Anise - 1 whole
• Bay leaves - 2 (dried or fresh)
• Red Onion - 1 large, (150g), julienned
• Green Chillies - 4 fresh 
• Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
• Kashmiri Chilli Powder  - 1 tsp (or ½ teaspoon of regular chili powder)
• Roma Tomatoes - 4 large (approx. 450-500g)
• Mint and Coriander leaves - 30 g (approx. a handful)
• Basmati Rice - 325 g 
•  Coconut Milk* - 350 ml, (thick or first coconut milk), look for Indian or Thai coconut milk cans
• Water - 350 ml (or thin extract*)
• Sea Salt - ¾ tbsp 

These are steps to follow to make this Tomato Rice:

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• Place the Instant Pot inner bowl into the Instant Pot. Set it in SAUTÉ mode for 10 minutes.
• Add the oil into the Instant Pot. Once hot, add the whole spices: cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, and star anise. Wait until the cloves swell up.*
• Add the julienned onions to the oil. Sauté until the onions turn translucent and begin to brown around the edges.
• Next, add the ginger-garlic paste and the green chilies. Sauté for a few minutes and immediately add half of the chopped herbs, followed by the tomatoes and the salt.
• Continue sauteing until the tomatoes begin to soften up and let out juices. Sprinkle in the rest of the herbs.
• Add the Chilli powder and mix it once. Immediately after, add the coconut milk, the water, followed by the Basmati Rice.
• Give it a quick mix. Cover and SEAL with the Instant Pot lid. PRESSURE COOK for 10 minutes.
• Finally, after the cooking time, QUICK RELEASE to open the Instant Pot. Give it a mix gently with a fork. Serve it hot!

Recipe Source: This recipe is a family recipe.

Notes:

• Cloves: It is important that you add the whole spices to hot oil. And it is equally important that you wait until the cloves swell up before adding any other ingredients. The cloves swelling up means that the whole spices have absorbed in the oil and let out its own oil. If this doesn't happen, the flavor of spices won't be spread evenly through the biryani.
• Tomatoes: I like to use Roma tomatoes, it has a lot of flesh and it is sweeter than it is sour. You can also use heirloom tomatoes or any of your favorites tomatoes. Heirloom tomatoes will add a bit of sourness to this recipe for tomato rice.
• Chilli powder: Kashmiri Chilli Powder is added mainly for its color. The hotness of it is very less compared to other chilli powder. However, you can use regular chili powder or paprika powder.
• Rice: I've used Basmati rice here. But I use Seeragasamba Rice most of the time; which is another aromatic rice but short-grain rice. You can go for either of these rice varieties based on its availability.
• Coconut milk: Look for Thai style or Indian Style Coconut milk; those that are intended to be used in cooking.
• Coconut milk extraction: If you have coconut or shredded coconut, you can make your own coconut milk. Blend together 300g of coconut meat with 250ml water. Drain to extract the milk; this should give you 350 ml of thick coconut milk extract.

Made this? Got doubts? Let me know what you think in the comments below!