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You are here: Home / Indian recipes / Lemon Rice

Lemon Rice

December 15, 2009 By Laura 12 Comments

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This is an ironic recipe to be posting at the last minute on a Tuesday. I seem to be taking the holidays off from my To Try Tuesday posts–I promise they will resume after New Year’s–but life is hectic. Anyway, ironic because I have a gazillion Indian lemon rice pilafs stored in my to try files from Indian blogs I have read–but when I finally tried one I tried it from Suvir Saran’s Indian Home Cooking. Nonetheless it was inspired by all those blogs. See if I had been doing To Try Tuesday back then I would never have forgotten about lemon rice and it would not have taken perusing a cookbook to remind me of it!


Anyway, this was fantastic. John found it a tad sour I think but the kids and I loved it. Alex, who pretty much wants her rice plain, white, and more plain and white, pronounced it “the best rice you have EVER MADE!!!” (emphasis indicated by shouting of course). Sammy ate 2 servings–and did not pick around anything in the rice, although Alex of course picked out the onions. What, did I forget to mention Alex dislikes onions? It’s not true of course (how could it be when most of what we eat is totally flavored with onions–and you know she misses some of them), it is 4 year old visual pickiness, but I let it go because she is always polite about it and just eats around them. At any rate, I highly recommend this when you are looking for a more unusual (to those of us in America anyway) way to serve an Indian rice dish.


The pilaf is actually more of an Indian fried rice, albeit quickly fried, and therefore although it is very simple and comes together quite quickly, you do need to make the rice at least 20 minutes in advance, to have time to spread it out and let it cool to room temperature. Unlike stickier jasmine rice or Chinese rice, you do not need to let it dry out overnight.


Lemon Rice
Adapted from Suvir Saran’s Indian Home Cooking

2 cups of uncooked basmati rice, cooked by preferred method and spread out to cool to room temperature
3 T vegetable oil
1 T dark mustard seeds
1/2 cup roasted cashews, chopped (I used salted ones for convenience)
dried chiles, to heat preference, optional (I left out)
1 heaping t cumin seeds
3/4 t turmeric
12-18 curry leaves (more if frozen)
2 t urad dal (skinned black lentils)
pinch asafetida
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped scallions, white and light greens parts only
remaining dark green scallions, chopped
salt to taste
1/4 cup water
juice of 1 lemon

Place the oil, mustard seeds and cashew pieces in a large skillet–I found nonstick worked nicely–and heat over medium high heat. Cooking, stirring, for 1-2 minutes, until the mustard seeds start popping. When they finished, add the dried chiles (if using), cumin seeds, tuermic, curry leaves, urad dal and asafetida. Stir fry until the urad dal and cashews are uniformly golden, about 1-2 minutes. Stand back when you first add the curry leaves as they will pop.

Add the onions and white/light green scallions, with a pinch of salt to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramelized, 7-10 minutes. Turn the heat down if the onions start to burn.

Add the cooled rice and stir gently until the rice is completely yellow. Add the water and stir some more, scraping the bottom of the pan if any spices are sticking. Add the lemon juice and cook another 2 minutes to completely heat the dish through. Add the dark green scallion parts and taste for additional lemon juice or salt. My husband liked this dish with a sweet tomato chutney; the kids liked it plain–I liked it both ways.

Filed Under: Indian recipes, rice, vegetarian

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Comments

  1. sangeeta says

    December 16, 2009 at 3:06 am

    hey you made it so perfect an dit's heartening to see that your kids loved it..

    Reply
  2. Joanne says

    December 16, 2009 at 8:32 am

    Delicious rice dish! I love rice with a little bit of color in it, instead of just having it be plain. Four year-old pickiness is so funny! And random.

    Reply
  3. Grace says

    December 16, 2009 at 8:50 am

    what a colorful dish! the mixture of hues and textures and spices makes this one of the most appealing rice dishes i've ever seen!

    Reply
  4. cookeaze says

    December 16, 2009 at 9:42 am

    I read this and immediately wrote the recipe down and headed into the kitchen. I had everything for it.Going to prepare and taste it.Thanks for your talent..

    Reply
  5. That Girl says

    December 16, 2009 at 11:07 am

    I feel like I always echo your sentiments regarding the craziness of life!

    Reply
  6. Mother Rimmy says

    December 18, 2009 at 12:24 am

    What a colorful and delicious dish. I've bookmarked it to try after the holidays.

    Reply
  7. Shirley says

    December 18, 2009 at 1:19 am

    Yes if you can get your kids to eat it, you pass the test.

    Reply
  8. MaryMoh says

    December 18, 2009 at 1:48 am

    This dish looks delicious and healthy. Love the colours. Fried rice is always a favourite in my family. It's my favourite when I don't have much time and there's some left over rice.

    Reply
  9. lululu says

    December 18, 2009 at 9:47 am

    I love that kinda rice too, so much spice means so much flavor!

    Reply
  10. NOELLE says

    December 18, 2009 at 10:52 am

    Looks like it would be very aromatic! Nice colors.

    Reply
  11. kathyvegas says

    December 19, 2009 at 12:56 am

    This would be perfect with grilled lamb-or any grilled meat, and so pretty…great post!

    Reply
  12. Jamie Dougherty says

    January 4, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    So good! I've never used asafetida but I have some. Now I know what to do with it 🙂

    Reply

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Hi! I’m Laura and I am a recovering history major who has re-channeled all of my passion for learning about the history of different countries to learning about their food culture. That doesn’t mean every dish on here is strictly authentic, but it does mean that even my adaptations are not undertaken lightly. My goal is to show you–by doing–that these dishes are possible in your kitchen. Including desserts because I have quite the sweet tooth! Read More…

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