This delicious Portuguese tomato rice (also known as arroz de tomate) is incredibly easy to make, vegetarian or vegan and comes together in under an hour for a satisfying side dish packed with flavor.
Jump to:
⭐Why you’ll love it
Arroz de tomate is a Portuguese dish that is also commonly eaten in Angola (where I live) due to colonial influence. It’s a traditional malandrinho (“naughty”) style rice recipe which is common in Portugal.
Malandrinho rice dishes are similar to risotto but have much more liquid, and look like a cross between soup and risotto.
- It’s also incredibly easy to make.
- It’s very hands-off – no constant stirring like when making risotto.
- It’s really rich and tasty.
- It’s great warming comfort food.
- It’s vegetarian (can easily be made vegan by swapping the butter for vegan butter).
- You only need a few ingredients.
And if you like this then you might want to try some of my other delicious rice recipes like this easy peanut butter rice or some tasty Tajín rice.
🛒Ingredients and notes
Tomato paste: So this is known as tomato paste in the US but tomato purée in the UK. You want the thick concentrated dark red paste that often comes in a tube.
Butter: You’ll just use a tablespoon of this to finish off the rice and give it a great mouthfeel. So use a good tasty one, preferably grass-fed, For vegans, swap it for a high-quality vegan butter.
Tomatoes: It doesn’t matter which type you use, they need to be large and very ripe. You can even use overripe tomatoes if you have some to get rid of.
Onion: Just use a regular brown-skinned onion, although the type is unimportant here.
Rice: Malandrinho rice recipes are made with Portuguese rice called Carolino rice. If you can get it, use it. If not, you can substitute it with paella rice (bomba rice) or arborio rice.
Olive oil: Use a quality olive oil that you can taste the olives in, but no need to break out the virgin or extra-virgin oil as it’s a waste when frying.
See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for exact quantities.
👩🍳How to make it
Step 1: Add the olive oil to a medium pot and heat on medium-high. Chop the onion, mince the garlic, and add to the pot along with the bay leaves.
Step 2: Fry everything for about five minutes, until the onions are softened and transparent but not browned.
Step 3: Chop the tomatoes in small to medium dice and add to the pot along with the salt, pepper, and tomato paste/concentrate.
Step 4: Fry together until the tomatoes have softened and broken down, which should take around 10 minutes.
Step 5: Add the rice and mix with the tomatoes until each grain is covered with the sauce. Add the hot vegetable stock, mix, and cover with a tightly fitting lid.
Step 6: Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and leave to simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and leave to one side for five minutes. Add the butter and stir in until melted. The rice should be a soupy consistency. Serve immediately.
Hint: You really do want to serve this tomato rice immediately. Carolino rice is very starchy and will continue to absorb the liquid meaning that if you wait more than fifteen minutes you will end up with more of a risotto-style dish than a malandrinho-style one.
💡Expert tips or top tip
- Make sure your bay leaves are not super old and tasteless as they’re quite important to the flavor of the rice.
- The smaller you chop the tomatoes the faster the process of making the base sauce will be.
- You can keep the vegetable stock at a simmer on the stove if you like until you need it but I find it easier just to microwave it until nearly boiling while the sauce is cooking.
- If you don’t have a pot with a tightly fitted lid or there’s a gap between the lid and the pot, place a sheet of aluminum foil over the pot and then place the lid on top. Then move the foil sticking out up or down until it covers any gaps.
🍽️Serving suggestions
I fully confess that my family and I often eat a large warm comforting bowl of arroz de tomate for dinner, all by itself.
However, it is usually served as a side dish (with fish, but we’re not about that here) in small terracotta bowls or ramekins to stop getting the rest of what’s on the plate soggy.
Make a meal of it and combine it with a protein (I love the vegetarian butcher’s breaded fake chicken fillets) and other traditional Portuguese or Angolan sides like:
- Fried collard greens.
- Black beans (or even vegetarian feijoada).
- Salada mista (mixed salad).
- Garlic bread.
❄️Storage
This recipe does not store or freeze well as the starchy Carolino rice tends to absorb all the liquid, leaving you with a stodgy tomato risotto with over-plumped rice.
If you need to store leftovers, keep them in a tightly covered container in the fridge for up to four days.
❓Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Two main types of rice are grown in Portugal, Carolino and Agulha. Ariete and Maçarico are grown to a lesser extent, and other common types of international rice such as Basmati are common.
Carolino is an extremely starchy short-grain rice produced in Portugal. It’s similar to some risotto rice, but starchier, which makes for very creamy liquid when used in typical soupy Portuguese-style rice dishes.
Other Mediterranean recipes
Did you make this dish? Let me know how much you loved it with a star rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐and a comment below.
📖 Recipe
Portuguese Tomato Rice (Arroz de Tomate)
Equipment
- 1 sharp knife
- 1 chopping board
- 1 medium pot (with lid)
- 1 set measuring spoons
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 large bay leaves
- 5 large tomatoes (around 500 grams).
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 cup Carolino rice (or substitute paella or arborio rice).
- 3.75 cups vegetable stock (hot)
- 1 tablespoon butter preferably grass fed, vegans swap for vegan butter.
Instructions
- Chop the onion and mince the garlic. Chop the tomatoes now or while the onions are cooking.
- Heat the oil over a medium-high heat in the pot and once hot add the onion, garlic and bay leaves.
- Fry for five minutes until the onions have softened and are translucent.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and tomato paste and stir to mix well.
- Fry the tomatoes for up to ten minutes or until the tomatoes have softened and begun to break down. I usually microwave the vegetable stock until it's piping hot for the last few minutes of cooking time in this step.
- Add the rice and stir to coat with the sauce, then immediately add the hot vegetable stock.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover tightly and leave to cook for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, take the pot off the heat and leave to one side for a further five minutes.
- Take the lid off, add the tablespoon of butter and stir in until melted. The rice should be quite soupy. Serve as soon as possible as the rice will continue to absorb the liquid and thicken your arroz de tomate.
Comments
No Comments