Mandy Yin: Beef And Tomato Rice

[object Object] The origins of Malay nasi tomato must have been Indian biryani, with the use of fragrant spices during the cooking process.

You will often find tomato rice at Malay feasts accompanying rich curries and stews like rendang. I’ve used the idea of nasi tomato but zhuzhed it up with minced (ground) beef for protein and peas for a more balanced one-pot meal – sort of like fried rice that you don’t have to fry! Fresh tomatoes add a fabulous tang at the end. Please do not use canned tomatoes for this recipe.

Extracted from Simply Malaysian by Mandy Yin (Quadrille, £27), Photography by Louise Hagger. Buy here

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Asian

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Method

Finely chop the onion, garlic cloves and ginger in a small food processor.

Warm the butter in a large casserole dish (Dutch oven) over a medium heat. Add the onion-garlic-ginger mixture and stir-fry for 2 minutes. Add a couple of splashes of water if the mixture starts to stick – no more than 100ml (scant ½ cup) in total.

Add the beef and stir-fry for 5 minutes.

Add the rice, tomato purée, salt, measured water, star anise, cloves, cassia bark or cinnamon, cardamom pods and peas. Stir, cover with the lid and bring to the boil, then reduce to the lowest possible heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Turn off the heat and leave to rest for 10 minutes.

Stir through the tomatoes, coriander (if using), fried shallots and tomato sambal before serving.