Lemon rice/South Indian Lemon Rice/Elumichai Sadham

I love all kinds of variety rice not just because they are easy to prepare but also they taste good! Generally i have heard people telling that they don’t like the variety rice packed in their lunch boxes.
Strangely enough, my family of fussy eaters consisting of M and A love this lemon rice. A loves it with potato fry and M likes it when peanuts and cashews are thrown in. I make this lemon rice weekly once and this time when  i made it i felt it was picture- perfect and so clicked it.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice-2 cups

Lemons-2 medium sized

Salt-as needed

Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp

Gingelly oil-1 tbsp

To Temper:

Sunflower oil-2 tbsp

Mustard seeds-2 tsp

Whole white Urad dal-2 tsp

Channa dal-2 tsp

Curry Leaves-1 sprig

Green chillies-3, chopped

Red chillies- 2

Peanuts (roasted)-1/4 cup (optional)

Cashews-5, broken (optional)

How It Happened:

1. Take the cooked rice in a bowl and mix the gingelly oil with the rice slowly, so it keeps the rice separate.

2. In another bowl squeeze the lemon, add turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and set aside.

3. Heat oil in a kadai add the mustard seeds, urad dal and channa dal. When they turn golden brown, add curry leaves and when they splutter add green and red chillies, cashews and peanuts. Fry until they turn golden brown.

4. Switch off the flame and add the lemon juice to the fried tadka. Let it sizzle for a couple of seconds.

5. Now add the tadka- lemon juice mix to the rice and mix slowly. Mix well until all the rice turns yellow and check for salt.

6. Let it sit for 30 minutes. Serve with appalam and vadams.

Notes:

*If you cook the rice in an open pot, immediately spread the rice on a plate after draining the liquid, so the rice doesn’t stick to one another. If you are using pressure cooker reduce about half a cup of water than you normally add to 1 cup of rice so the rice can maintain its shape also once the pressure is released immediately transfer the rice to a plate and allow it to cool else they will become sticky.

*Do not squeeze the lemon very hard else the juice will turn out to be bitter (bitterness comes from the skin)

* Usually Amma switches off the flame and adds the lemon juice to the tadka for it to sizzle a bit whereas my athai mixes the lemon juice mixture with the rice and then adds the tadka and mixes it.Either way can be followed but make sure you don’t add the lemon juice while on flame for 2 reasons: firstly, it will lose its vitamins secondly it will taste bitter when heated.

* The resting time allows the flavours to get incorporated well in the rice.

*Initially the rice will be a bit too sour and hot and as time goes, the rice absorbs all the flavours and the taste will be perfect.

*The turmeric powder may seem a bit more but thatz what gives the colour.