By Rajlakshmi
October 17, 2025
Lemon rice is a South Indian staple rice dish which is cooked in lemon juice, mustard seeds and curry leaves. It is usually paired with chicken curry, mutton curry, rasam, ghee roast and more. It takes no more than 20 minutes to make this.
1 cup of rice 3 tablespoons of coconut oil A few mustard seeds 1 spoon of urad dal 1 spoon of chana dal 1 and ½ spoons of turmeric powder ½ teaspoon of hing ¼ cup of peanuts 5-8 cashews, roasted 2-4 dry red chillis 1 chopped green chilli ½ teaspoon of chopped ginger A full stem of curry leaves 2-3 stems of coriander leaves Lemon juice to taste Salt
Cook the rice. Let it cool down. Heat oil in a pan.
Once the oil is hot, put in the mustard seeds, let them splutter. Add urad and chana dal, turmeric powder and hing.
Put in the cashews, ginger, both chillis, curry leaves, and peanuts. Saute.
Add cooked rice, coriander leaves, lemon juice and salt to taste. Stir until the colour is yellow.
Turn off the heat. Remove the pan. Serve lemon rice with curries and stews.