Lemon Rice

Lemon Rice is a quintessential comfort food that hails from the Indian state of Karnataka but is considered a widely popular breakfast option across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala. What makes Lemon Rice different from other rice preparations like Pulao/Pilaf or Biryani is this characteristic tangy taste. In Karnataka’s Udipi, Chitranna constitutes a whole gamut of piquant rice dishes made with different souring agents like tamarind, raw mango, kokum and lime.

Also known as Pulihara, the origin of Chitranna can be traced back to the yellowed pages of Chalukya king Someshvara III’s 12th-century Sanskrit text Manasollasa. The dish was then referred to as Chitrapaka. It also features in other cookbooks from the same period, Pakadarpana and Pavanapaakadharma, which attests to its popularity even a century ago.

The most common type of Chitranna is Nimnehannu Chittranna. This dish resembles Pulao in appearance because the rice is tossed with turmeric to lend it a vivid yellow hue. Lemon juice is used to make the dish sour. Conversely, to make Mavinakayi Chitranna, the rice is folded in with a paste made of unripe mangoes. Kayi-Sasive Chitranna, on the other hand, is mixed with mustard seed and grated coconut paste to make it a full-bodied meal in itself.

It is made with a melange of spices, lentils, peanuts and jaggery. The first step to making Pulihara is sauteing the spices in oil until they start spluttering, and then adding the souring agent. After a quick sear in the pan, cooked rice and fried curry leaves are folded into the mix and stirred continuously for a few minutes till all remnant water evaporates. Ensuring that the rice dish is dry is crucial, because only then can it be preserved for 3-4 days after its preparation. It is for this reason that Chitranna was often the dish of choice for travelling longer distances. It is also a popular festival offering prepared as prasadam at temples and households.

Since Pulihara is prepared all year round as a quick breakfast meal, the Pulihora powder is often pre-made and stored in airtight containers for months. The rice is at times replaced with flattened rice or Poha for an evening snack.