Ingredients
Method
- Heat oil and pop the mustard seeds. Add chana dal, urad dal and peanuts and fry until golden.
- Add chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida and turmeric and stir for a few seconds.
- Turn off the heat, add the rice and salt and mix gently.
- Add the lemon juice and coriander off the heat, and toss. Lemon turns bitter if cooked.
The spices that matter
Black or brown mustard seeds start most South Indian, Gujarati and Maharashtrian tempering: they pop in hot oil before curry leaves and dals go in. G…
No mustard seed? Cumin seeds give a different but workable tempering. Yellow mustard seeds are milder.
A pinch goes into almost every dal, sabzi and curry, usually with the onions or straight into the dal as it boils. Fresh turmeric root is pickled in …
No turmeric? There is no real substitute for flavour. For colour only, a tiny pinch of saffron or Kashmiri chilli changes the shade, but not the taste.
Fried in hot oil with mustard seeds for sambar, rasam, poha, upma, chutneys and Kerala and Tamil dishes.
No curry leaves? No real substitute. Lime zest gives a hint of the citrus note.
Fried with urad dal and mustard seeds in tempering, and roasted into podis and sambar powder.
No split chickpeas (for tempering)? Urad dal.
Fried in tempering with mustard seeds and curry leaves for poha, upma, lemon rice and chutneys.
No split black gram (for tempering)? Chana dal.
Nice to have
Salt, oil or ghee, onions, ginger, garlic and fresh herbs are assumed. See how to make a tadka for the order to add whole spices.
Dishes with similar spices
Frequently asked questions
How long does lemon rice take to make?
About 10 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to cook.
What spices are in lemon rice?
The essentials are mustard seed, turmeric, curry leaves, split chickpeas (for tempering), split black gram (for tempering). Nice to have: asafoetida, dried red chillies.
Tips from travellers
Use Lemon rice differently at home? Share your tip. The first good one goes right here.