Chitranna or lemon rice
Chitranna or lemon rice is an easy and quick flavorful tangy, tasty rice dish. It is a dairyfree breakfast recipe. It is easy beginners rice dish and can be prepared in less than 15 minutes using cooked rice. This is kids lunchbox recipe.
Servings: 4 people
Equipment
- frying pan
- Mixing plate
Ingredients
- 4 cups Cooked Rice
- 2 tbsp Coconut oil
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 2 to 3 tbsp Peanuts
- 2 tsp Chana Dal or split chickpea lentils
- 2 tsp Urad Dal or split black gram
- 2 no Green Chilies (chopped)
- ½ tsp Turmeric powder
- ¾ cup Coconut gratings
- 5 to 6 no Curry leaves
- 2 tbsp Lemon juice
- Salt as per taste
Instructions
- Seasoning or Oggarane
- Heat coconut oil in a small pan. On medium heat, fry mustard seeds until they splutter. Add peanuts and fry them on medium heat until they are nutty and crispy golden.
- Add chopped green chilies and fry till they are crisp. Making them crispy gives nice aroma and you can chew them along with rice.
- Next add chana dal, urad dal, on medium heat fry them until golden.
- Add curry leaves, fry well until they turn crisp. You get nice aroma of curry leaves.
- Next you can add turmeric powder and saute everything together. You get vibrant yellow hue colour and fresh turmeric flavours to seasoning.
- Remove from the heat and cool the seasoning.
Mixing
- There are two ways are mixing rice with cooled seasoning. Add cooled cooked rice directly to pan and mix. Or we can add seasoning on the plate of cooled rice.
- In this recipe I have followed second method for proper mixing. Add cooled coconut oil seasoning on cooked rice, also add salt as per taste.
- Add freshly grated coconut and freshly squeezed lemon juice to the rice. Adjust lemon juice as per the tanginess and preference. Also adjust salt and green chilies to balance the flavours.
- Start mixing the rice with seasoning. Let your fingers feel the texture and gently mix everything. You can also crush few curry leaves and roasted chilies while mixing.
- Delicious flavourful and aromatic chitranna or lemon rice is ready to be served to your family.
Serving suggestions
- Chitranna or lemon rice is mostly served with chutney or cucumber raita in most of South Indian restaurants.
- Even papad and onion salad makes a great accompaniment. This rice can be served as it is without any accompaniments.
Video
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Notes
Do not add lemon juice to hot seasoning. It becomes bitter if cooked with seasoning. Do not cook the seasoning after adding lemon juice.
Adjust the quantity of lemon juice as per your taste preference.
Always use freshly squeezed lemon juice otherwise it becomes bitter if stored for long or refrigerated.
Always cook rice beforehand, may be 1 to 2 hours. This helps the rice remain separated and makes perfect lemon rice.
Mixing and crushing the seasoning gently with cooled cooked rice gives a great flavour.
If chitranna is tangy to taste, you can always adjust the spiciness. Simply fry few chopped chilies in coconut oil and mix it with rice. This balances the flavors.
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