Lemon Rice
Jun 25, 2019
South Indian Lemon Rice with peanuts, curry leaves and fresh lemon juice. This flavorful rice is tangy, vibrant and crunchy. Makes a great quick meal and is also vegan.
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Easy Lemon Rice is a popular rice dish from South India.
This dish is tangy, crunchy and so flavorful. Pair with pickle or papadum for a delicious meal.
Sarvesh is a huge rice fan, he can eat it pretty much every day. While plain rice and dal is his absolute favorite, sometimes I like to change things up and make something different with rice.
Few of my favorite rice recipes are Curd Rice and this Lemon Rice.
This lemon rice recipe is very popular in South India. It’s tempered with spices like mustard seeds, curry leaves and has peanuts for the crunch and lemon juice for that tangy flavor.
It’s pretty straight forward to make and makes a great quick lunch or meal.
This Lemon Rice
✓ is easy to make and can get done in 30 minutes or less
✓ has a lot of flavor going on- crunchy peanuts, curry leaves and a strong lemon flavor!
✓ is vegan
✓ can be made gluten-free by skipping the hing (asafoetida)
For this South Indian lemon rice recipe, I first cooked the rice and then seasoned it with all the ingredients.
But you can also make it using leftover rice. I used 1 cup of uncooked rice here so its equivalent would be 3 to 4 cups of cooked rice.
I actually make this recipe often using leftover rice. Because we eat rice a lot, I am often left with few cups rice and this is a great way to use it.
In fact when you use pre-cooked rice, the cook time is reduced even further and you can make this dish in 15 minutes!
For tempering the lemon rice, I used mustard seeds, curry leaves, chana dal, urad dal, peanuts and fresh lemon juice.
You can even add cashews if you want. Even ginger would be good here, though I did not add it.
I like adding the chana and urad dal for the crunch in my lemon rice. Make sure, you soak the dals for 10 to 15 minutes in water before using them in the recipe.
It makes them softer and I like having that texture of the dal in my lemon rice.
Serving Suggestions for Lemon Rice
Lemon rice is typically served with pickle and papadum on the side.
You can enjoy it as such too, it doesn’t really need many accompaniments.
Method
1- Rinse rice until water turns clear. Then transfer to a pressure cooker with 1.5 cups water.
Cook on high heat for 2 to 3 whistles. You can also cook in your Instant pot, high pressure for 5 minutes with natural pressure release.
2- Meanwhile soak urad dal and chana dal in water for 10 to 15 minutes as the rice cooks. Then drain the water from the dals and set aside.
3- Once the rice is cooked, fluff it with a fork and transfer to a large bowl and let it cool down. Then add the salt.
4- And the lemon juice and mix well until combined and set it aside.
5- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the peanuts to the pan.
6- Cook the peanuts until roasted and they turn light golden brown. Don’t burn them. Remove peanuts on a plate lined with paper towel.
7- To the same pan, now add mustard seeds and let them pop.
8- Add the soaked & drained dal to the pan. Saute until they turn light golden brown.
9- Add the curry leaves and chili. Saute for few seconds.
10- Then add the turmeric, hing and mix.
11- Remove pan from heat. Transfer tempering to rice along with the roasted peanuts.
12- Mix all the seasoning well with the rice. Adjust salt and lemon juice to taste at this point.
Serve lemon rice with a side of pickle!
If you’ve tried this Lemon Rice Recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram to see what’s latest in my kitchen!
This post has been updated from the recipe archives, first published in 2016.
Lemon Rice
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice 200 grams, I used basmati rice
- 1.5 cups water 12 oz
- 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 2-2.5 tablespoons lemon juice or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon urad dal (dhuli) soaked for 10 minutes
- 1/2 teaspoon chana dal soaked for 10 minutes
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoons peanuts raw
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 12-14 curry leaves
- 1 green chili sliced, or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- generous pinch hing also known as asafoetida
Instructions
- Rinse rice until water turns clear. Then transfer to a pressure cooker with 1.5 cups water. Cook on high heat for 2 to 3 whistles. You can also cook in your Instant pot, high pressure for 5 minutes with natural pressure release.
- Meanwhile soak urad dal and chana dal in water for 10 to 15 minutes as the rice cooks. Then drain the water from the dals and set aside.
- Once the rice is cooked, fluff it with a fork and transfer to a large bowl and let it cool down. Then add the salt and the lemon juice and mix well until combined and set it aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the peanuts to the pan. Cook the peanuts until roasted and they turn light golden brown. Don't burn them. Remove peanuts on a plate lined with paper towel.
- To the same pan, now add mustard seeds and let them pop.
- Add the soaked & drained dal to the pan. Saute until they turn light golden brown.
- Add the curry leaves and chili. Saute for few seconds. Then add the turmeric, hing and mix. Remove pan from heat.
- Transfer tempering to rice along with the roasted peanuts. Mix all the seasoning well with the rice. Adjust salt and lemon juice to taste at this point.
- Serve lemon rice with a side of pickle!
Notes
- You can also make this lemon rice using 3-4 cups of cooked rice. So this is a great way to use leftover rice. Follow the same recipe as it is except cooking the rice part.
- You can also add cashews to this lemon rice for that extra crunch and taste.
- To make it gluten-free skip the hing (asafoetida) or use gluten-free hing.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hubby loved this. I used Trader Joe organic basmati and served with your chana dal. Thank you!
awesome!
WOAH. I just made this last night, stuck to the recipe 100%, and it’s the best rice I’ve ever had. Don’t skip any part of it! It’s incredible!
good to know Kendra 🙂
Hi Manali,
I love your website! I have a question about lemon rice and the use of urad and channa dals. What is the purpose of adding them to the dish? Texture?
Thanks so much for helping me!
chana and urad dal are commonly added to tadka (tempering) in South Indian dishes…they give nice texture. You may skip them!
My all time favorite. Healthy and delicious. Happy New Year Manali 🙂
Happy New Year, Manali! What a dish to kick off this new year! We LOVE rice and I always seem to have some leftover. This will be the perfect comforting meal to warm us up on those cold evenings!
This looks delicious- I love lemon rice 🙂
Happy New Year Manali!! I hope that you and your family will have many blessings in the year to come. This rice look amazing. Pinning to try soon.
Sounds like our New Year’s Eve was pretty similar to yours! We just laid low and snacked on delicious food. But we actually made it until midnight this year (that doesn’t always happen). I think it’s partially because the baby needed to eat around 11:30, so that gave us the gumption to make it another few minutes. Haha! I love this rice…it sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing, and happy new year!!
What a delicious and healthy rice to kick start the New Year!
This sounds like a perfect dish to use up left over rice. I always make way too much rice and always have extra…I will need to try this dish!
Sounds like your New Years Eve was a lot like mine! Lots of couch time which is exactly how I like it. 😉 LOL. And this rice looks like the PERFECT way to kick off 2016! I love a rice dish with lots of zingy lemon flavor!