Despite my apparent liking of spicy and hot food I usually don’t like to change anything in rice – white rice is just perfect as it is and there is really nothing better to accompany and tone down my adventurous kitchen experiments. However, rice is one of the main players in Indian cuisine and a lot of times it appears not just as a side dish but as the main course.
Rice as main course has endless amount of versions – rice with varying spices, Biryani and many more. The most common rice dish in south India is lemon rice full of crunchy surprises.
Lemon rice can be served as an interesting side dish or as a main dish for a light dinner. It goes really well with yogurt.
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Ingredients (3-4 servings)
- 1 cup white rice (Basmati)
- 1/3 cup peanuts
- 1 tbs mustard seeds
- 1 tbs urad dal (details below)
- 1 tbs cumin seeds
- 1 tbs curry leaves
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida (details below)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- juice from 1 lemon
Directions
Prepare the rice separately. Everyone have their own way of cooking rice, my way is to heat some olive oil in a pan on low heat, ad 1 cup of white basmati rice, stir a little, add 2 cups of boiling water and cover immediately without stirring. Lower the heat to the lowest flame available and cook for 20 minutes.
If you’re using non-roasted peanuts roast them for a few minutes in a dry pan until they brown a little. Prepare all the remaining ingredients in advance since once you start frying everything happens real quick. Heat 2-3 tablespoons of oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they start popping add the Urad dal and cumin seeds and fry for about 30 seconds or until the urad dal starts to brown. Add the curry leaves, Asafoetida and turmeric and mix well. Fry for another 20-30 seconds.
Make sure you have enough oil, the oil absorbs all the flavors and responsible for mots of the taste in this dish. You should have enough oil to cover all the spices in the pan.
Immediately pour the pan content on the cooked rice, add the roasted peanuts and mix well until all the rice gets the yellow color. Squeeze the juice of one whole lemon, add to the rice and mix.
It’s possible to serve it immediately but it will be much better after 1-2 hours in which the rice will soak the lemon juice and the dish will get its zing 🙂 Serve as a side dish or main dish in a light meal, along with yogurt.
Comments and suggestions
Urad dal?! Urad dal is actually a small lentil which looks a lot like Moong bean but has a black skin and is white on the inside (vs. the Moong which is yellow inside). Here we use it without the skin and split in half.
Asafoetida?? Hing powder, or Asafetida is a weird and smelly powder which is used in Indian cooking as a subsitute for onion or garlic. In some parts of India people don’t put garlic or onion in their food for religious or cultural reasons and so Asafetida is used in almost every dish. You can find Asafetida in Indian grocery shops.
Peanuts. Any type of roasted peanuts will work here, you can roast them on your own or buy them already roasted with or without salt.
In short
Heat some olive oil in a pan and add 1 cup of basmati white rice. Add 2 cups of boiling water, cover and cook for 20 minutes. When the rice is ready heat 2-3 tbs oil in a pan, add 1 tbs mustard seeds and fry until they start to pop. Add 1 tbs Urad dal and 1 tbs cumin seeds and fry for another 30 seconds or until the Urad starts to brown. Add 1 tbs curry leaves, 1/4 tsp Asafoetida and 1 tsp turmeric and fry for another 30 seconds while stirring. Pour the pan content on the cooked rice, add 1/3 cup roasted peanuts and mix well. Add the juice of 1 lemon and mix. Let it sit for 1-2 hours for rice to absorb the flavors. Serve with yogurt as a side dish or main course.
