This is my aunt’s special recipe and she has been using it for ages to impress her guests (and my uncle of course). If you love South Indian rice recipes, then you may like this raw mango rice recipe, puliogare, or a simple lemon rice recipe.
Thakkali Sadam is a great dish to pack away for a trip or for lunch box for work or school. It tastes good even after it’s gone cold and all you need is a good raita or papad to pair it up with. I used to regularly take Thakkali Sadam in my lunchbox to school and all my Malayali friends who don’t eat it that often would love to take a bite or two.
THAKKALI SADAM RECIPE
Rice – 2 cups
Tomatoes – 3 ripe medium-sized ones
Onion – 1 medium, very finely chopped
Salt – to taste
Dry-roast and grind:
Coriander seeds (malli) – 1.5 tbsp
Chana dal – 2 tbsp
Red chillies – 5 or 6
Fenugreek seeds (methi/uluva) – 1/2 tsp
For tempering:
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Urad dal – 1 tsp
Chana dal – 1 tsp
Green chillies – 3, chopped fine
Peanuts – 1/2 cup (I use slightly more since I like their crunch in the rice)
Asafoetida/hing – a pinch
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves – a few
Sesame oil (nallennai) – 2 tbsp
How to Make Thakkali Sadam
1. Dry roast and grind the list of ingredients under that head and leave aside to cool. Make sure that you don’t burn the fenugreek while roasting. To avoid this, add it once the other ingredients are almost roasted.
2. Cook the rice. Make sure that its not overcooked or too mushy. I used ponni rice but basmati brings out a nice flavour and unique taste to the dish.
3. Heat the oil and temper mustard seeds and urad dal. Add the chana dal, green chillies, peanuts and chopped onions and saute for about 2 to 3 mins.
4. Then add the turmeric, hing and the curry leaves. Fry for another minute or two.
5. Add the ground powder (masala) and fry for another 3 to 4 minutes.
6. Now add the chopped tomatoes and mix well. Keep the fire on low and cook till the raw smell leaves the mixture. This should take about 10 to 12 mins. Add salt. The oil will begin to separate. Make sure that the mixture is a thick paste and not watery (in short, don’t add water).
7. Once done, mix in the rice, stir well until blended well and serve hot with raita, pickle and papad.
Hi miss Nags-
I made this last week for lunches for my husband and myself, and it came out very well- well received by DH & super tasty!
And not a terrible amount of prep/ grinding. I did however double the recipe, coz I thought 2c of rice wouldn't make sufficient for a couple of meals- boy did I get more than I bargained for! Tomato rice for days! Finally took pity on DH and made him a sandwich…
Looking forward to trying some of your other rice recipes-
haha.. so glad you liked the tomato rice recipe
I'm going to try this recipe but I have one question…Do you need to pre cook the dal before I use it in this recipe??
there's no dal to be cooked really, just for tempering. so add in directly.
looks yum n delicious…simply mouthwatering..lovely presentaion…and thanks for sending this bful dish to my evnet
Thanks so much for leaving a note after trying. Glad you liked it 🙂
I tried this yesterday and it was amazing….thank you for a very good recipe….
i wanted to add my appreciation of this recipe, it came out splendidly. thanks.