Lemon Rice also known as Chitranna – a very flavorful rice dish with great Indian authentic flavors. This amazingly delicious recipe is prepared with cooked basmati rice and with a tempering of spices like mustard, curry leaves and peanuts. It is one of the most popular rice dish from South Indian Cuisine.
This recipe is easy to make and ready in 20 minutes with healthy tangy, refreshing flavors and looks delicious. You can make either with fresh cooked rice or using leftover rice makes bit easy, if you are in a hurry. Make sure, the texture of rice must be grainy when boiling. Do not overcook rice for this recipe.
This rice dish goes well with yoghurt, papad and pickles, but personally I like to eat lemon rice alone, it tastes good on its own. A perfect quick lunch box recipe for work or office too.
Let’s get started to make this super hit recipe of Lemon Rice.
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Lemon Rice
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This easy Indian Lemon Rice (chitranna) is the most popular rice dish from South Indian Cuisine. It is a healthy tangy rice recipe, full of flavors like curry leaves, mustard seeds, ginger, turmeric and lemon, the most comfort food and favorite at many Indian households.
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 2 cup water to boil rice
- 1 tablespoon oil
- Salt to taste
- 2 dry whole red chili
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ½ tablespoon black split lentils (urad dal)
- ½ tablespoon Bengal gram (chana dal)
- 12 to 15 peanuts
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ tablespoon chopped ginger
- Few curry leaves
- To garnish coriander leaves
Instructions
- First, wash the rice thoroughly under water and soak them for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, cook the rice in a vessel by adding required water. (make sure the grains must be separate and not mushy). Do not overcook. If there is excess water, drain the water from rice. Set aside, let it cool.
For the tempering –
- Heat oil in a pan on medium flame.
- Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, urad dal and chana dal, roast them until they turn light golden brown. Do not burn them.
- Now add peanuts, whole red chili, chopped ginger and curry leaves, stir fry for few seconds.
- Add turmeric powder and mix.
- Add boiled rice, salt to taste and lemon juice. Mix everything together well with the rice and saute for about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Garnish with coriander leaves.
Notes
- You can quickly make lemon rice with some leftover rice for a better taste.
- Adjust the amount of spice level as per your taste.
- Make sure frying peanuts before adding to lemon rice will help to sustain the crunchiness.
- You can replace peanuts with cashew nuts or use combination of both.
- Add lemon juice only at the end when mixing the rice with tempering. Else your rice may taste bitter.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Cuisine: Indian, South Indian
