Greek tomato rice is a scrumptious side dish, baked in the oven that can easily be turned into a quick & easy main meal. Simply toss your favorite ingredient in it and bake it all together.
I'm in love with this rice in so many ways. I love it because it's loaded with flavor, using only a handful of ingredients that I can get out of my cupboard, toss into a pan and make this delicious tomato rice at any time.
I love it because I can add bite-sized pieces of chicken, pork, sausage or even seafood like shrimps or mussels, to it, bake it all together and turn it into an effortless main meal.
But mostly I love it because it's so easy to make, baked in the oven which gives to it, a slightly sticky creamy texture (since no starch gets wasted by boiling and throwing the water away).
-Don't miss this other delicious Greek side dish with Spinach & Rice (Spanakoryzo).
The Ingredients For Making Greek Tomato Rice
To make this tomato rice all you need is some garlic and onion, tomato paste and fresh grated tomato (for extra sweetness), parboiled rice, as well as a few spices like cloves, allspice, and bay leaves.
And all you have to do is cook the onion and garlic in a pan along with olive oil until softened and golden in color. Add the spices, tomato paste, and fresh tomato and cook for 1-2 minutes. Then pour in the water and stir. Pour this sauce in a baking dish where you have added the rice (raw).
Bake for 30 minutes or until rice is cooked. But since each stove has a slight difference in temperature when baking. Make sure to taste the rice before removing from the oven. You may need to add just a little bit of water if the rice isn't soft enough.
Why Parboiled Rice? Because of its special processing, it has a higher nutritional value, therefore, is a better source of fiber, calcium, potassium and vitamin B-6 than regular white rice. And keeps a nice texture without getting too muddy or sticky.
Used In This Recipe 13x 9-inch baking dish.
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Recipe
Greek Tomato Rice (Ntomatorizo) Vegan, Gluten & Dairy-Free
Ingredients
- olive oil
- 1 small onion minced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 5-6 pieces of allspice
- 5-6 pieces of cloves
- 2 small bay leaves
- 2 loaded tablespoons double-concentrated tomato paste
- 1 small ripe tomato grated
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1200 ml water or vegetable stock check out my easy homemade vegetable stock
- 300 grams / 10.6 oz long-grain parboiled rice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 392°F.
- In a medium-sized cooking pot heat a good splash of olive oil.
- Add onion and garlic and cook until softened.
- Stir in the spices, tomato paste, and grated tomato.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes while stirring constantly.
- Pour in the water or vegetable stock and add the sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes more. Then turn off the heat.
- In a baking dish, about 33x22cm/13x9-inch add the rice and pour the tomato sauce on top.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until the rice is cooked and absorbs all the water. Stir rice every now and then. NOTE: As the temperature for each stove may differ, it may need 5 minutes more or less baking. For this same reason taste the rice and add a little bit more water if needed.
Nutrition
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Can you use brown rice/jasmine rice for this recipe if you do not have parboiled rice?
Sure you can. The only thing is each rice variety has different cooking times. So you'll have to keep an eye on and add more or less water as needed in order to cook properly.