This is a lemon recipe that I grew up with – lemon rice. A delicious rice dish that is so easy, you’ll be making it again and again.
The inspiration
I was swimming in lemons a few weeks ago – over 275 lemons! I posted a recipe for lemonade syrup that used up almost all of them. Guess what? I got another 100 more lemons just last week! Of course I made more lemonade syrup, but I still had a bunch of lemons sitting in my basket.
Mind you, this recipe doesn’t use a lot of lemon – just three in fact, but it’s a great way to make a lemon flavored main dish.
Lemon rice
Lemon rice is a very popular rice dish among Tamilians from the Southern part of India. It makes a great picnic food as it tastes great at room temperature and is easy to transport.
The recipe is very simple – add lemon juice to fluffy cooked rice, along with turmeric, asafoetida, mustard seeds, curry leaves, salt and red chili. Toss everything together and serve with crunchy papadum or potato chips. Here I made the traditional lemon rice with a blend of rice and quinoa. Here is the recipe.
Lemon Rice
Ingredients:
- 1 cup basmati rice. Cook according to package directions.
- Juice of lemons about 1/4 cup
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp asafoetida powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1-2 dried red chili – you can remove the seeds and use the red chili for a smoky flavor without the heat
- 1 tbsp split black lentil (urad daal) – this gives the rice a nutty fragrance and crunch
- 3-5 curry leaves if you have
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro for garnish
- 2 tbsp roasted peanuts or cashews (optional)
- 1 tsp sugar
- Oil
Directions:
Transfer cooled rice into a large serving bowl and fluff the rice with a drizzle of oil to loosen the rice.
In a pot heat 1 tbsp oil. Add mustard seeds and let them pop. Once they stop popping add the urad daal and toast in oil until it turns a golden brown in color just a few seconds. Turn the stove off and add asafoetida powder, turmeric powder, red chili, and curry leaves and fry in the hot oil for 3 seconds. Add this oil to the cooled rice.
To the rice add salt, lemon juice, sugar, chopped cilantro and roasted peanuts and toss everything together. Lemon rice is ready. Serve at room temperature garnished with chopped fresh cilantro.
Cook’s Notes: Lemon rice makes a perfect dish to take to a picnic. Tastes great at room temperature and is easy to transport.
