Lemon Rice, also known as Chitranna or Nimmakaya Pulihora, is a South Indian rice dish made with cooked rice, lemon juice, nuts, herbs, and spices. The tempering and the lemon juice adds a nice tang as well as crunch, making it a simple and flavorful rice dish.
Recipe Snapshot
- Prep time: 20 minutes
- Cook time: 5 minutes
- Total time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 3
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: South Indian
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice ((heaped) or 3 to 4 cups cooked rice)
- 1.75 to 2 cups water
- ¼ teaspoon salt (or add as required)
- 1.5 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice (or add as required)
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon urad dal ((spilt and skinned black gram))
- 2 dry red chilies (- preferably seeds removed)
- 1 teaspoon chopped green chilies (or 1 to 2 green chillies - chopped)
- 12 to 15 curry leaves
- 1 generous pinch asafoetida ((hing))
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 tablespoon cashews (- halved or chopped (optional))
- ¼ cup peanuts (- optional)
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil ((gingelly oil) or any neutral oil)
- salt (as required)
Method
Soaking rice
- Rinse rice grains a couple of times and soak in enough water for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Then drain all the water from the soaked rice.
Stove-top pressure cooking
- Cook rice in a 2-litre or 3-litre pressure cooker with salt and 1.75 to 2 cups water for 2 to 3 whistles or 8 to 10 minutes on medium to medium-high heat.
- When the pressure settles down on its own in the cooker, remove the lid. Remove the cooked rice in a plate or in a bowl.
- 1 heaped cup rice will yield 3 to 4 cups rice. This will depend on the type and quality of rice.
- Let the cooked rice become warm or cool at room temperature
Cooking rice a pan or pot
- Take rice, salt and 2 cups water in a pan. Cover and simmer until all the water has been absorbed and rice grains are tender and fluffy.
- Do keep a check when rice is simmering and if the water has dried leaving the rice grains undercooked, add some more hot water and continue to cook.
- Place the cooked rice in a tray or bowl to cool it.
Instant pot method
- Add rice, salt and 1 or 1.25 cups water (depending on rice type and quality) in the steel insert of a 6 quart IP.
- Pressure cook for 5 minutes on high. Do a quick pressure release after 5 minutes.
- Empty the cooked rice in a plate or bowl to cool at room temperature.
Frying nuts
- In a small frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons sesame oil. First fry the peanuts until crunchy and then set them aside.
- In the same oil, then fry cashews until golden. Remove and set aside.
- Now add 1 tablespoon sesame oil in the same pan. Keep the flame to a low.
- Add the mustard seeds and let them crackle. Once the mustard seeds begin to crackle, add the urad dal.
- Fry until the urad dal turns golden. Fry everything on a low flame, so that the lentils do not burn.
- Then add the red chilies, green chilies (chopped) and curry leaves. Sauté for a few seconds until the red chilies change color.
- Switch off the heat and add the asafoetida and turmeric powder. Mix very well
Making lemon rice
- Immediately pour this tempering mixture on cooked and cooled rice. Add the fried peanuts and cashews, lemon juice, salt. Mix very well.
- Keep the bowl or pan covered for the flavors to blend for 4 to 5 minutes.
- Then serve the lemon rice.
- While serving you can choose to garnish chitranna with some chopped coriander leaves (cilantro).
Serving suggestions
- Serve lemon rice with pappadums or with a side vegetable salad or even coconut chutney also goes great with this dish.
- It can also be packed in the tiffin box. As lemon rice can be served at room temperature, it also makes a great picnic lunch item. It’s a light dish and you can have it as a light lunch or breakfast too.
Storing
- Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for a day. Leftover rice is not good for health, so I suggest to finish the lemon rice in a day.
Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note
Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.