Recipe

Lemon rice

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Photo by Panfusine

This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Citrus Recipe
boulangere's Testing Notes: This dish may forever change the way you think of rice. Panfusine's method of first cooking the rice all by itself and adding the aromatics afterwards was new to me. I'm seriously in love...
This dish may forever change the way you think of rice. Panfusine's method of first cooking the rice all by itself and adding the aromatics afterwards was new to me. I'm seriously in love. Her toasted spices and chile are an experience by themselves; the addition of the remaining ingredients, including (oh yeah) more chiles, gilds the lily. She's generous with the cilantro, too. I served it with Tzatziki and some fresh naan. I feel like I've turned a whole new corner in the rice world. You should, too.

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Chef
Panfusine's Notes: Its one of the triumverate of classic 'dry' rice dishes from a traditional South Indian Kitchen, the others being spiced Tamarind rice & coconut rice. (I take that back, there's sesame rice...
Its one of the triumverate of classic 'dry' rice dishes from a traditional South Indian Kitchen, the others being spiced Tamarind rice & coconut rice. (I take that back, there's sesame rice, yogurt rice as well, so make that the 'big five') The easiest to make out of the three. since there is no extensive process to make the seasonings except for a tempering. I grew up making this with all possible permutations & combinations of seasoning, but this is the basic classic 'vanilla' version of lemon rice. ensuring that the lemon is fresh, just cut & squeezed, gives the dish an extra 'je ne sais quoi' factor, possiblly because of the oils from the peel getting into the rice as well.. Lemon zest..yeah it is great, when added, but I'd rather use it for something else.

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Makes ~2 cups

2 cups Cooked and cooled Basmati rice (~ room temperature) Ask a question about this ingredient

Juice of 1 Meyer Lemon (freshly cut & squeezed) Ask a question about this ingredient

2 tablespoons Clarified butter (Ghee) Ask a question about this ingredient

1 teaspoon whole black mustard seeds Ask a question about this ingredient

2 teaspoons Cumin seeds Ask a question about this ingredient

1 dried Arbol chile (Broken in two) Ask a question about this ingredient

1/4 cup Peanuts or Cashewnuts (Broken up) Ask a question about this ingredient

1 tablespoon Finely chopped fresh ginger root Ask a question about this ingredient

1 Finely minced Deseeded Green chile (Serrano) or 1/2 a deseeded jalapeno Ask a question about this ingredient

1 sprig Curry leaves (torn) Ask a question about this ingredient

1 pinch asafetida Ask a question about this ingredient

1/4 teaspoon Turmeric powder Ask a question about this ingredient

3/4 - 1 teaspoons fine sea salt (as per taste) Ask a question about this ingredient

1/4-1/2 cup Finely chopped Cilantro Ask a question about this ingredient

Add the cooked rice to a large mixing bowl.
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In a skillet, Heat the ghee and add the Mustard seeds to sputter, Add the cumin and the broken Arbol chile pieces. Stir until the cumin sputters & splits (& the chile simultaneously turns a reddish brown). Add the Cashew/peanuts & toast till they turn golden.
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Immediately add the minced ginger, torn curry leaves & the green chiles & saute till it starts emittting an aroma. Stir in the turmeric powder, asafetida and the salt.
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Pour this mixture into the rice, along with the meyer lemon juice & fold in thoroughly, till the rice acquires a uniform pale yellow color. Garnish with chopped cilantro & serve with a poppadum & cucumber Raita.
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15 Comments on Lemon rice

creamtea added 3 months ago

Congrats on the CP!!

boulangere added 3 months ago

Un-freaking-believable. That's all I can say.

Panfusine added 3 months ago

Thanks for the wonderful validation Boulangere, Tzatziki sounds fabulous to pair the rice with!

Kitchen Butterfly added 4 months ago

Oh, love South Indian recipes - especially the tempered spices. And you can never have too many rice recipes - congrats on the CP. Some idli's and coconut chutney would be nice too :-)

susan g added 4 months ago

We had the lemon rice tonight, with "Meatballs" from boulangere. We love the rice!

Panfusine added 4 months ago

Thanks Susan g, so glad you liked it!

sdebrango added 4 months ago

Wonderful panfusine, Love basmati rice I think I would like this with a saag paneer, do you think that would be good?

Panfusine added 4 months ago

Oh Absolutely!

susan g added 4 months ago

I'm ready to make this -- thanks. Can we see the other 4?

Panfusine added 4 months ago

Absolutely, Amanda has the yogurt rice recipe in the NY times big red book, I'll post the others..

creamtea added 4 months ago

Mmmm. I will be trying this (though I may use brown basmati).

Panfusine added 4 months ago

Thanks Creamtea!

Panfusine added 4 months ago

My pleasure AJ, Although feel free to omit the chile peppers.. (the predominant flavors are the lemon, cumin & the curry leaves)

Panfusine added 4 months ago

welcome AJ... you may want to omit the arbol chile in the tempering and the chopped green chiles.. (while they do add a spicy heat, the predominant flavor is the lemon and the supporting ginger & the aroma from the curry leaves.