Fragrant, comforting, and easy to serve as a complete meal, Turmeric Lemon Rice Recipe is a vegan, vegetarian Indian side made with cooked rice, oil, and mustard seeds in about 15 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 10 minutes
  • Total time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 2
  • Category: Side
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1.5 to 2 cups cooked rice
  • 1 tsp oil (high smoke point oils like organic safflower or organic canola)
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds (preferably black mustard seeds)
  • 8 to 10 curry leaves (fresh or frozen, whole or chopped)
  • 2-3 tbsp toasted cashews or peanuts (optional)
  • 1/2 to 3/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/3 tsp or more red pepper flakes (or 2 broken red chilies)
  • 2 tbsp or more lemon juice
  • cilantro for garnish

Method

  1. Cook the rice, fluff and keep aside or let the rice or other cooked grains you plan to use, come to room temp.
  2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and let them start to pop. i usually check the oil by adding 2-3 seeds. If they start to sizzle immediately or pop, the oil is ready.
  3. Add curry leaves and wait for a few seconds. Add turmeric and red pepper flakes and mix in. Reduce heat to medium low. At this point you can add roasted nuts(cashews or peanuts) or peas or both and mix in.
  4. Add a splash of water to reduce the temperature of the pan. then add the lemon juice.
  5. Add in the rice and mix in well. Add salt if the cooked rice was not salted. Cook for 2 mins. Taste and adjust salt and lemon. Cover and take off heat. Let it sit for 2 mins before serving. Garnish with cilantro.

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.