Lemon Rice – Cook Like An Aunty

Lemon rice recipe video

Let’s begin today’s journey through Indian cuisine in Southern India. A family is eating a traditional breakfast in Karnataka. There is yellow colored rice on the plate, with some roasted chana dal, peanuts, mustard seeds, and curry leaves. The rice has a pleasantly sour flavor.
That is lemon rice, a common breakfast dish in Karnataka.
It’s locally called Chitranna in Kannada.
The characteristic yellow color doesn’t come from the lemons in its English name. The yellow color is from the turmeric powder added to the tempered oil. When the oil is mixed with the rice, the yellow turmeric coats the rice.
But the mildly sour flavor is of course from the lemon sprinkled on the rice.
Lemon rice can have a wonderful combination of spicy, salty, and sour tastes all in one bite which makes it a very popular savory dish.

Where is lemon rice eaten

Chitranna literally translates to “mixed rice” in Kannada and can actually refer to many types of rice dishes.
It can describe any type of rice flavored with a souring ingredient, such as lime, mango, or tamarind.
But it most commonly refers to the rice flavored with lemon juice that we are talking about today.
Nimbehuli Chitranna is the proper name to specify lemon rice in Kannada.
Lemon rice is popular in most of South India. It is a very common dish in Karnataka as we already discussed, but people from the neighboring states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Kerala also make lemon rice.
The Tamil name for the dish is elumichai sadam.
In Telugu, it is nimmakaya pulihora.
Or in India’s North, the Hindi speaking states call it Nimbu Chawal.
As you can guess, each just translates to lemon rice.
But the dish is so well associated with Karnataka that many other parts of India will know the dish by the Kannada name Chitranna. You can also get by saying lemon rice in English.
In addition to lemon juice and turmeric, the dish is commonly flavored with a tharka of mustard seeds, curry leaves, urad dal, chana dal, and peanuts. Although, these ingredients can change depending on each family and what ingredients are available near their home.

History of Lemon Rice

Scholars believe that citrus-related fruits, such as lemons, originated in South Asia and as such, it makes sense that lemon rice has been a popular dish on the subcontinent for centuries.
The question of lemons’ origin actually stumped researchers for centuries. Scholars only came to some basic consensus in late 2023 after a paper was published in the journal Nature Genetics. The researchers published their findings of a genetic analysis for multiple types of citrus which indicated that lemons originated in South Asia before spreading to other parts of Asia followed by the world.
Even though we are used to seeing “Product of Mexico” labels on our lemons purchased from the grocery store in North America, India is actually the largest producer of lemons and limes in the world. It produces 21 million tons which is 17% of the world’s supply. The states of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka are some of those growing lemons in India.
Apart from the peanuts commonly used in lemon rice recipes, the other ingredients I mentioned before have all been available in India for millenia. This makes lemon rice a somewhat rare modern example of what Indian food was before Europeans introduced tomatoes, potatoes, chilies, and other ingredients to the subcontinent from the New World.
One of the earliest written mentions of Chitranna is from a Sanskrit encyclopedia called The Manasollasa.
The Manasollasa was composed by the Chalukya of Kalyani King Someshvara III, who ruled around the early 12th Century CE.
His kingdom includes modern day Karnataka, Telangana, southern Maharashtra, and western Andhra Pradesh.
In the section on food, the author included a recipe for Chitranna so the dish has been popular for a staggering 900 years.
Interestingly, other recipes noted in the Manasollasa include modern day favorites such as dosa, idli, vada, and pakoras.
The Mansollasa is considered one of the most important historical artifacts from ancient India. It gives a sample of Indian cuisine and culture before European colonization.
It also describes non-culinary topics such as political science, competitive sports, music, dancing, and health.

How is Lemon Rice eaten

Lemon rice is typically served cold because the heat will diminish the nutrients from the lemon juice and create a bitter flavor.
It’s best to wait for the rice to cool a bit before adding the lemon juice to the rice too to prevent the lemon juice from heating up and becoming bitter.
Lemon rice is not a type of fried rice. It is just flavored rice. So the rice and oil are both cooled to near room temperature before they are mixed.
And because it is eaten cold, lemon rice is a common breakfast dish, but it is also a convenient lunch option for Indians taking tiffins to work or school.
You can eat lemon rice with papad, the famous Indian deep fried cracker of sorts, raita, which is a creamy spiced yogurt, sambar, which is a popular lentil stew, or chutney. You can also eat it on its own as a snack or light meal.
Lemon rice can be part of a South Indian thali meal, which is a multicourse meal of smaller portions.
The lemon rice would usually be the second or third course in the meal after plain rice, sambar, and vegetables but before any sweets.
It is sometimes included in traditional South Indian wedding lunches.

There is a street cart called Chitranna Center in the famous culinary city of Mysore, Karnataka that serves a famous lemon rice. The cart also serves idli, chutney, sagu, and ghee rice. I will post a link to a video of it in the show notes. The video shows a bit of the process for making a large amount of lemon rice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQz2fmHy1kA

How to make Lemon Rice

If you want an easy way to make lemon rice, the Indian food brand MTR sells a lemon rice powder mix that is available in North America both online and in South Asian grocery stores.
You take the powder from the packet, add it to oil, and then mix it on cooked rice. Although, I think making lemon rice from scratch is pretty much just as simple as that process anyway so let’s talk about a homemade lemon rice recipe.

Cooking the rice well is very important in lemon rice because at its most basic description, it’s flavored rice. Unlike biryani which has meat and vegetables to cover imperfections in the rice texture or curd rice which has a liquidy yogurt to mask sticky overcooked rice, there are few strong flavors or textures to hide poorly cooked rice within lemon rice.
The grains should be separate after cooking and not be moist or sticky. Wash the rice well to remove the starch off the grains. This prevents sticky rice. You want to wash until the water runs clear. If you want a visual example, the lemon rice recipe video on the Cook Like An Aunty YouTube channel shows how I wash rice.
You can use any variety of non-sticky rice; although, short grain rice will give you the best texture. Ponni (pony) and sona masoori are common varieties used for chitranna. But if you only have long grain basmati or jasmine rice, it’s ok to use it.
When I cook short grain rice, I use a ratio of 1 to 1 uncooked rice to water. But that ratio should change based on your individual rice cooker. If your rice comes out sticky, use less water next time. If your rice comes out chewy or burnt, use more water next time. Once you find what works in your rice cooker, write down the type of rice you used and the ratio of water you used.
Once the rice finishes cooking, you should fluff the rice with a fork. A fork will allow the individual rice grains to separate and release excess moisture between the grains. A spoon will not allow the rice to separate as well because you’ll end up getting balls of rice on the spoon instead of grains going between the fork prongs.
Having separate grains of rice is important when you coat the rice with the lemon and spice mixture later.
The next step is to prepare the spice mix.
It goes without saying that each family has their own individual recipes for lemon rice. The particular recipe that I will share does not include fenugreek, asafoetida, dried chilies, or cilantro as those ingredients can be relatively strong compared to the mostly mild flavors in lemon rice. Nevertheless, some recipes include those ingredients in their lemon rice spice mix depending on what the individual Aunty and her family prefer. If you do choose to use them, dry roast and powder the fenugreek beforehand and include the asafoetida or dried chilies while tempering the spices. Add the cilantro to the rice before pouring the lemon juice on it.
Sesame oil is common for the spice tempering, but you can use any oil or ghee you prefer. I use peanut oil because this recipe includes peanuts and my family in India historically grew peanuts on their farms. As a result, a lot of my family recipes use peanut oil.
Heat 3 Tbsp of your oil of choice in a pan over medium heat. You’ll want to wait until you see the oil shimmer a little when you move the pan.
After the oil heats, add 0.5 tsp of mustard seeds. Wait for them to pop. I prefer to cover the pan while they pop to keep my stove clean.
Then add 1 Tbsp of chana dal. Wait for it to brown a little.
Then add 0.5 Tbsp of urad dal. Wait for it to brown a little.
Add 4 Tbsp of skinless peanuts and let them cook a bit.
Then add curry leaves and turn off the heat.
After the oil cools a bit, add 1 Tbsp of turmeric powder to the oil and mix. You want the oil to be cool enough so the turmeric doesn’t burn. Set it aside for a bit.
This spice mix can be made ahead of time and saved in a spice container in the fridge.
When the fluffed rice reaches near room temperature, we can start flavoring the rice.
Juice one lemon over it. Also, add salt to taste and mix everything well.
You’ll want to taste regularly and add more salt or lemon juice depending on your preferences.
Once you get the sourness and saltiness you like, pour the spice mix on the rice. Mix until the rice is coated well. You’ll see the rice turn yellow from the turmeric in the oil.
Put the rice in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours so the dal and peanuts soften in the lemon juice.
After the peanuts and chana dal are soft, you are ready to enjoy your lemon rice anytime. You generally should serve it cold or only warm it to room temperature.

If you want to see a more detailed recipe, checkout the Cook Like An Aunty YouTube channel or cooklikeanaunty.com/lemon-rice.
You can also find all sources and references used to make this podcast episode on the website too.
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