Lemon rice recipe with traditional & instant pot methods – Lemon rice is one of the most popular South Indian rice recipes. It is a comfort food for many and is most commonly eaten for a meal. Lemon rice has a delicate flavor of fresh lemon juice along with the aroma of the tempering spices.
Chitranna & nimmakaya pulihora are the other south Indian regional names to this dish.
Making lemon rice is one of the simplest & is great to begin with if you are a newbie. The entire dish just gets done under 10 minutes if you have some precooked rice ready.
Lemon rice tastes good on its own. However many people love it with plain yogurt or curd, pickle, raita, chutney, salad or kosambari. During festivals or occasions we serve it with some fried snacks like masala vada, papad or pakora.
Back home in India, lemon rice is one of the most common travel foods. Many people pack it for road or train journeys as the dish keeps good for long hours due to the addition of turmeric.
In this post I have shared making the traditional method & also the instant pot version.
Step-by-step photos
Preparation
Firstly we need perfectly cooked grainy rice for this recipe. You can use any kind of rice that’s available to you. Or in fact you can use even precooked rice. That’s what many people do.
1. Wash and soak 1½ cups rice in a bowl for at least 15 mins. If you do not have time you can just skip the soaking and cook the rice directly. If cooking in a pot, on a low flame cover & cook rice with 1:2 ratio (rice:water). or To cook in pressure cooker, pour 1 cup water to the cooker and place a trivet. Keep the rice & water bowl in it and cook for 2 to 3 whistles. If cooking directly in the cooker, cook for 1 whistle.
2. Cook the rice to grainy and not mushy. Cool it completely & then fluff up the grains.
How to make lemon rice recipe
3. Heat half tbsp oil in a pan. On a medium heat, roast the peanuts until crunchy and deep golden. Remove them to a plate.
4. Then pour another 1½ tablespoons oil to the same pan. Add mustard, urad dal and chana dal. Saute until lightly golden on a medium flame.
5. Add curry leaves, ginger, green chilies and red chilies. Fry them for about 30 seconds until you smell the ginger and curry leaves.
6. Then add hing, salt and turmeric.
7. Stir quickly and pour 2 to 3 tbsps water.
8. Quickly the water will evaporate and the mixture turns aromatic. The chana dal and urad dal will soften slightly yet will keep the crunch. If you want them very soft then add 2 tbsps more water. Towards the end all the water should evaporate. Turn off the stove.
9. Remove from the stove and add cooled cooked rice. (OR Alternately you can also add the tempering to the bowl of rice). Squeeze lemon juice all over and give a good stir.
10. Taste the lemon rice. Add more salt and lemon juice if needed. Then garnish with crunchy roasted peanuts.
Serve with lemon rice with plain yogurt, papad or with pickle.
Tips to make lemon rice
- The addition of fresh ginger, curry leaves & green chilies totally elevate the flavor of the lemon rice. These are the 3 ingredients that are key to making the dish. However if curry leaves are not available in your part of the world just skip them & use some coriander leaves or cilantro.
- Traditionally peanuts & a small portion of lentils are used to add crunch to the dish. If you do not have them just replace with some cashew nuts.
- Lemon rice can be made with any cooking oil like peanut oil, sesame oil or sunflower oil. I like to add a dash of extra virgin olive oil towards the end. Olive oil doesn’t really go well in Indian foods but lemon rice is an exception.
- To make a good refreshing lemon rice always use fresh lemons. I personally like the large variety of lemons as they are really flavorful. You can also use limes.
- Most commonly short grain rice is used to make this recipe. But any kind of rice just goes well. The rice has to be less starchy as the cooked grains have to be separate & grainy without being sticky or mushy.
More rice recipes on the blog,
Tomato rice
Fried rice
Jeera rice
Coconut rice
Tomato bath
Pudina rice
Recipe
Lemon rice recipe | How to make lemon rice
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 1½ cups rice uncooked (or 4 cups cooked rice)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons lemon juice or lime juice as needed
- ½ teaspoon salt or as needed
- 2 tablespoon oil
- ¾ teaspoon mustard seeds
- 4 tablespoon peanuts or cashews
- ¼ to ½ teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
- 2 green chili slit (refer notes if making for kids)
- 1 sprig curry leaves (kadi patta)
- 1 ½ teaspoon chana dal (bengal gram) (optional)
- 1 teaspoon urad dal (skinned black gram) (Optional)
- 1 pinch hing (asafoetida) (optional)
optional ingredients
- ½ tbsp ginger finely chopped
- 2 dried red chilies broken
Instructions
Preparation
- Wash rice a few times and drain the water completely.
- On a low flame cover and cook it in a large pot with 3 cups water.
- The rice must be cooked fully but grainy and not mushy. OR You can also cook it in a pressure cooker by placing the rice bowl in the cooker. Cook for 2 to 3 whistles.
- Fluff up the rice gently with a fork and cool completely. This helps to keep the rice grainy & firm.
How to make lemon rice
- Heat a pan with ½ tbsp oil on a medium.
- Add peanuts or cashews and fry until golden and crunchy. Remove them to a plate.
- Pour another 1½ tbsp of oil and add mustard, urad dal & chana dal. Fry on a medium flame until the dals turn golden & aromatic.
- Next add ginger, green chilis, red chilies(optional) and curry leaves. Fry them until the leaves turn crisp for about 30 seconds. Do not fry for too long, ginger will turn bitter.
- Then add hing, turmeric and salt. Immediately pour 2 to 3 tbsps water and stir.
- Quickly water will evaporate and turn the dal softer yet keeping them slightly crunchy. Turn off the stove and remove from the heat.
- Transfer this to the cooled rice. (or Alternately add the cooled rice to the pan). Ensure the rice is cooled completely then squeeze the lemon juice and give a good mix.
- Taste the lemon rice. If needed sprinkle more salt and add more lemon juice. Garnish with roasted peanuts or cashews. Serve lemon rice with plain yogurt, papad or pickle.
Instant pot lemon rice
- Rinse 1 ½ cups basmati rice at least thrice. Drain and set this aside.
- Press the saute button. When it displays hot, pour 2 tbsps oil to the inner pot of the instant pot.
- Then add in 3 to 4 tbsps peanuts or cashews. Fry them until golden and aromatic. Remove and set aside for garnish.
- Add 1½ tsp chana dal, 1 tsp urad dal, ¾ tsp mustard seeds, 1 to 2 slit green chilies, 1 sprig curry leaves. Fry them until lightly golden.
- Next add ginger, a pinch of hing & ¼ tsp turmeric. Give a good stir.
- Pour 1¾ cups water and add salt. Press CANCEL button. Deglaze by scrubbing the bottom of the pot with the spatula to avoid burn notice.
- Add rice and mix well. Taste the water & add more salt if needed.
- Secure the lid of the IP with the steam release handle set to sealing position. Press the PRESSURE COOK button and set the timer to 5 mins.
- When the Lemon rice is done, the IP beeps. Wait for the pressure to release naturally for 5 to 7 minutes. Then with the help of a spoon release the pressure manually, by moving the steam release handle from sealing to venting.
- Open the lid and remove the inner pot & set aside.
- When the temperature comes down a bit, squeeze in the lemon juice and gently stir it. If needed add more lemon juice and salt.
- Garnish lemon rice with roasted peanuts and serve with yogurt.
Video
NUTRITION (estimation only)
Notes
- If you have young kids home who can’t eat green chilies, you can fry them separately later in the same pan.
- To soften the dals, I pour some water to the tempering. This instantly softens them yet keeping them slightly crunchy. If you fry the dals longer on a low heat, then they turn rock hard and need more water. So you can add anywhere from 2 to 4 tbsps water as needed.
- Alternately you can soak the chana dal and urad dal in little hot water for 15 mins. But if you fry them on a low heat, they will still turn rock hard.
- Do not add lemon juice to hot rice, it alters the flavor completely.
- Ensure the rice is cooled completely before you mix the tempering. Mixing hot rice often makes it mushy.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
© Swasthi’s Recipes
Padma says
I love all your recipes – the food turns out delicious!! Thank you!🙏🙏💕
swasthi says
Hi Padma,
You are welcome! Thank you so much!
🙂
Pearl says
I tried it today. It turns out perfect. Eveyone loves it. Thanks for this awesome recipe.
swasthi says
Welcome Pearl
Glad you all love it.
Thank you
Rupesh Chikop says
Can Onions be added too? I’ve seen people using onions too.
swasthi says
Yes very fine chopped onions and coriander leaves can be used to make Karnataka style Chitranna. You can add the 2 tbsps onions after frying the dal. Saute them until transparent or pink. Add coriander leaves for garnishing.
Jonathan says
Hi, is toor dal interchangeable with chana dal in this recipe?
swasthi says
Hi Jonathan
No. You can skip it. No problem
Deep says
Awesome !!!
All loved lemon rice I made after learning from your blog
Only thing is rice was grainy when cooked separately but after mixing- a bit sticky which was a negative part of my making but tasted just yummy
Thanks !!!
swasthi says
Hi Deep,
You are welcome. To avoid the rice turning mushy we mix the completely cooled rice with add salt, lemon juice and oil. All these 3 ingredients will firm up the rice. If the rice is slightly overcooked also it will make the grains firm. I think your rice was still hot so it got sticky. Try with the above mentioned tips next time.
Deep says
Sure
Thanks for prompt reply.
Will certainly try again next weekend and give a feedback
Porkodi says
Calories in your recipes for one person serve or total serveings
swasthi says
Yes it is for one serving.
Nazmin Sarker says
Hi,
Great post and try to this recipe and my husband and his surprise you can find the ingredients in an Indian recipe. I love your blog lemon rice and easy to make tasty. Thanks for sharing your post. Keep up the hard work.
Thanks
Nazmin Sarker
Uju says
I love all your recipes. I’ve been trying them out one by one for different dinner parties and they’ve been a hit.
swasthi says
Hi Uju,
Thank you so much! Glad your food turns out good!
🙂
Bharti says
Wonderful!!
swasthi says
Thanks Bharti
Ipsita says
Great recipe, reminds of Bangalore days and little kiddo loved it too! Thanks 😊
swasthi says
Welcome Ipsita,
Glad your kid liked it. Thank you!
🙂
Sujeet Rai says
Amazing recepie explained so effectively. As a naive cook I was able to make it and surprise my wife!!!
swasthi says
Thanks for trying
Linda Bonner says
I tried this Lemon Rice at a friend’s home and fell in love with it!!! Where can I find some of the ingredients?? I live in Ottawa.
Thanks so much and thanks for posting this recipe. Best rice dish ever!!
swasthi says
Hi Linda Bonner,
You are welcome. You can find the ingredients is Indian stores. Vaishali super store should be having all of these. Thanks for rating the recipe. Hope you will enjoy making this dish.
SHAILASHRI S KATTIMANI says
Tried this recipe and my husband n his surprise guests were so happy about the test .it was awesome thank you
swasthi says
Welcome Shaila
Very glad to know lemon rice turned out good. Thanks for the comment.
🙂
Amita says
Hi Swasthi,
Thanx for the easy yet delicious recipe. Loved it
swasthi says
Welcome Amita
Thanks for trying.
🙂
Anna says
Swasthi
Love your blog. Lemon rice is my favourite and this turned out good. Thank you
sunitha dsilva says
lemon rice i easy and tasty. thanks for the recipe
sunitha dsilva says
lemon rice is easy and tasty.thanks for the recipe.
KarimaSan says
Thanks for d recipe, as i m a hostel girl, icooked in my own way…
I used pistachios as i doesn’t have peanuts, n i used jalepenos instead of dried chili ,n jeera instead of mustard seeds
But the taste turn out nicely…
swasthi says
Welcome Karimasan
Appreciate your interest to cook for yourself.
Thanks for writing
🙂
Swgata Chakraborty says
Lemon rice is one of my favorite dish and i am interested to cook lemon rice. Give me the recipe via mail in hindi.
Anju baheti says
Lemon rice recipe was very easy to make . Healthy as well as tasty. Thanks
swasthi says
Welcome Anju. Thanks for the feedback
kanchan Vidhani says
Its just yummy
swasthi says
Thanks Kanchan
Aseem says
Lemon rice turned out to be very good, I have tried you other recipes Rajama Masala, Butter Paneer, Tomato Rice etc. also all of them are excellent, thanks for taking time out and putting us for them.
swasthi says
Welcome Aseem
Glad to know!
Thank you so much!