Lemon rice is one of the quickest lunch recipe that is simple and delicious. It needs basic pantry ingredients, can be made in less than 20 minutes.
Recipe originally posted in 2017, updated with new photos and video in 2021. No changes were made to the original recipe, I wouldn’t dare! It’s my mom’s perfect lemon rice recipe!
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Why we love lemon rice
1. Ask any South Indian which is that one recipe they swear makes their life easy, and you will most probably get an answer ‘lemon rice’, ‘elumichai sadam’.
2. Be it for your quick lunch for busy mom’s at home, or pack it in your lunch boxes, lemon rice makes it’s way to most household weekly menu.
3. Lemon rice is also the most popular meal that people love to pack for their travel.
4. Lemon rice is a life saver when you are not in a mood to spend elaborate time in the kitchen.
5. It can be made in a jiffy and you have a flavor packed, delicious, comforting rice that can be eaten as it is or serve it with papad, potato chips or even some pickle(why not!)
6. The tang in the pickle and the tang in lemon rice makes you feel wanting for more. If you love tangy things! 😀
Ingredients Needed For Lemon Rice Recipe
Here’s what you need-
- Cooked rice
- For Tempering –
- Oil
- Mustard seeds
- Urad Dal
- Channa Dal (bengal gram)
- Fresh ginger, minced
- Peanuts
- Curry leaves
- Fresh green chilies
- Dried red chilies
- Asafoetida
- Turmeric powder
- Salt
- Fresh squeezed lemon juice
- For garnish –
- Fresh grated coconut (optional)
- Fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped (optional)
How to make lemon rice Indian style
- Heat oil before adding mustard seeds. Let the seeds splutter. Saute urad dal and channa dal and wait till they turn brown.
- Add peanuts and saute till peanuts are browned.
- Curry leaves goes in and then add ginger and asafoetida.
- Add chopped green chilies along with dried red chilies. Add turmeric powder, salt to taste, mix well.
- Remove the pan from stove and the mix cool completely.
- Now pour lemon juice, give it a good mix.
- Add this mixture little at a time to cooked rice and mix gently. Mix as much lemon mixture you need to the rice, check by tasting in between.
- Remove rice from heat and let it cool down little bit.
- Add grated coconut along with chopped coriander and mix well.
- Serve immediately with papad or potato fry.
Tips to make best south Indian lemon rice
- Use freshly squeezed lemon juice for fresh tang flavors! Bottled lemon juice won’t work.
- You can squeeze lemon juice directly over cooked rice after stirring in the tempered items. It’s advisable to add lemon juice in the end so it does taste bitter.
- Both long grain rice and short grain steamed rice works for lemon rice. First cook rice so it has time to cool. Adding tempering to cooled rice prevents rice from breaking or turning gluggy.
- Fresh grated coconut used as garnish enhances the taste of the rice.
More rice recipes-
Instant Pot Cajun Chicken And Rice
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📋Quick Lemon Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice cooked
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon ginger chopped
- 1 teaspoon asafoetida
- 2 teaspoon urad dal
- 2 teaspoon channa dal
- 2 tablespoon peanuts
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 2 dried red chilies broken
- 3 green chilies chopped
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
- 2 lemon juice extracted
- 4 tablespoon fresh grated coconut
- 2 tablespoon coriander leaves
Instructions
- Heat oil before adding mustard seeds. Let the seeds splutter. Put urad dal and channa dal and wait till they turn brown.
- Add peanuts and saute till peanuts are browned.
- Curry leaves goes in and then add ginger and asafoetida.
- Add chopped green chilies along with dried red chilies. Add turmeric powder, salt to taste, mix well.
- Remove the pan from stove and the mix cool completely.
- Now pour lemon juice, give it a good mix.
- Add this mixture little at a time to cooked rice and mix gently. Mix as much lemon mixture you need to the rice, check by tasting in between.
- Remove rice from skillet and let it cool down a bit.
- Add grated coconut along with chopped coriander, mix well.
- Serve immediately with papad or potato fry.
Comments & Reviews
Shubha says
Looks very delicious
jyothirajesh says
Thank you Subha