Wow 2 recipe posts in a row! That’s a vast improvement I’ll say. Well this is a quick one as the recipe is super easy. Whole Tomato Rice has taken the internet by storm! I believe it started from Japan, and now has gone completely viral in Asia. If you aren’t living under a rock, you would have seen the photos everywhere. Here’s a video posted by a popular food YouTuber, Ochikeron:

Basically, it’s steamed rice with a whole tomato on top along with some seasoning. At the most basic, it’s just tomato, rice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Steam like how you would with plain rice, then mix everything together and devour. It induced serious curiosity just because it looks super fun and highly customizable. If you have a rice cooker, this is pretty much a no-brainer meal. I am a weird Asian with no rice cooker at home (in fact I hardly eat rice anyway), so I did mine on the stove top. Still easy enough. Let me show you my takes on this super trendy meal.

After about 15 minutes on the stove top:

I only cooked half cup of rice with a large tomato, so it’s quite pink! (Half a cup equals to 2 meals for me by the way)

It’s a complete meal with the vegetables and bacon, and tastes a lot like a lighter version of risotto. Of course, this is highly dependable on the quality of your tomato. Bland tomato = bland rice. Also, make sure you use slightly less water because of the water content in the tomato. You don’t want it to turn into mushy rice/porridge (although that is quite yummy too).

Second day, I couldn’t help but made another version.

After cooking:

Time to stir it altogether!

Topped it with Smoked Salmon.

I’ve seen people using Prawns, Sausages, Mushrooms, Corn, Carrot, Onions, even Scallops. You can also add some fresh or dry herbs to further enhance the taste, and swap the water to stock. It’s highly versatile! Luckily I’m out of rice now (I usually only buy a 1kg bag which can last for a couple of months), so I can practise some restraint. Otherwise all that carbohydrates won’t do much good to my waistline!

So would you give this a go? And if so, what do you think you’ll add?