A super-simple way to liven up plain rice- Lemon Rice Nimmakaya Pulihora, a delicious South Indian dish you can easily put together when in a hurry. It is a part of a simple meal or a part of a festive feast. This zesty, fragrant rice is spiced up with green chillies and an extra ginger kick. The lemon adds the tanginess and a great fresh summery taste to the rice, while the tempering imparts a special aroma to this simple rice delicacy. Turmeric gives lemon rice its beautiful golden colour, without which it would be incomplete. Finally the nuts take this dish to a whole new level.
Cooking rice is pretty convenient, less time to spend in the kitchen. Rice is nutritious and easily digestible, gluten free, and what I like the most is that rice can take on the flavours of any ingredient you are cooking it with. Lemon rice Nimmakaya Pulihora can be done with fresh cooked rice or with left over rice. However hard we try, it’s sometimes unavoidable that we are left with leftovers, especially rice. But the number of options for using up leftover rice is numerous … and this Lemon rice Nimmakaya Pulihora is a great way to give a makeover to the left over rice from previous night 
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Serve Lemon Rice Nimmakaya Pulihora plain or with plain yogurt, salad and/or Papadams for a simple, yet tasty meal. It can also be enjoyed with delicious sides. For vegetarians I would suggest a Potato fry and for the carnivores out there, give it a try with a chicken curry or a chicken fry. It tastes heavenly!!
Step-by-Step Process in making Lemon Rice Nimmakaya Pulihora:
Click HERE to go directly to the video recipe…..For detailed information and some tips, continue reading!!
The process involves 3 simple steps:
- Cooking rice ( or use left over rice) and mixing turmeric
- Tempering
- Lemon rice mix
- These are all the ingredients you need for the tempering.
- Squeeze juice from 2 lemons and set aside for later use.
1. Cooking rice and mixing turmeric:
Please refer to “How to cook perfect plain rice”. Let the cooked rice cool down.
Note: Cook rice separately in a pressure cooker, rice cooker or a saucepan. Make sure you don’t over cook the rice otherwise lemon rice will become mushy. Make sure your rice is not mushy and the grains are separate. This is achieved only after rice cools down. So don’t mix while rice is still hot. You can also use left over rice for this recipe.
- Cool down the plain rice and add turmeric, 1 tablespoon of oil and a little salt.
- Mix well until all the rice grains are coated well with turmeric. Set aside.
2. For the Tempering:
- Heat around a tablespoon of oil in pan over medium heat and add mustard seeds.
- Once the mustard seeds crackle, add dry red chilies, black gram and channa dal.
- Now add peanuts and cashew nuts.
- Once the nuts start to turn slightly brown, add green chilies and minced ginger.
- Fry for about a minute and then add curry leaves and asafoetida.
- Mix well and turn off the heat when the curry leaves start to splutter.
- Cool down the tempering and add coriander and lemon juice.
- Lemon juice can also be added to the turmeric rice in step 1, but I like to add lemon juice directly in the tempered lentils. Whichever method you opt, make sure you add lemon juice to cool or lukewarm mixture, otherwise lemon juice imparts bitterness to the rice.
3. Lemon rice mix:
- Transfer the tempering from to the turmeric rice.
- Give it a nice stir with a ladle. It is traditionally mixed using hands. Adjust salt.
- Let the lemon rice sit for couple of hours and the rice will soak all lemon flavour and will taste really good. It tastes best when made a day before.
HOW TO MAKE SOUTH INDIAN LEMON RICE : VIDEO RECIPE
A Quick Summary:
Lemon Rice Nimmakaya Pulihora
Ingredients
- For recipe to cook plain rice click here.
- For the Rice mix:
- 2 Cups cooked & Cooled rice
- 1 tablespoon oil
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- Required salt
- For the Tempering:
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- 1 Teaspoon mustard seeds
- 2 dry red chillies
- 1 Teaspoon Black gram Urad dal
- 1 Teaspoon Split Bengal gram Channa dal
- 5 Cashews
- 1 Tablespoon Peanuts
- 4 Green chillies slit
- 1 teaspoon minced Ginger
- A sprig of curry leaves
- A Pinch of Asafoetida
- 2 Tablespoons Coriander finely chopped
- Other Ingredients:
- Juice from 1 to 2 lemons Depends on the tanginess you prefer
Instructions
- For the rice mix:
- Use cooked rice or cook rice separately in a pressure cooker, rice cooker or a saucepan following this recipe. Make sure you don’t over cook the rice and the grains are separate, otherwise lemon rice will become mushy.You can also use left over rice for this recipe.
- To the plain rice add turmeric, 1 tablespoon of oil and a little salt. Mix well until all the rice grains are coated with turmeric.
- For the tempering:
- Heat around a tablespoon of oil in pan over medium heat and add mustard seeds.
- Once the mustard seeds crackle, add dry red chilies, black gram and split bengal gram.
- Now add peanuts and cashew nuts.
- Once they start to turn slightly brown, add green chilies and minced ginger.
- Fry for about a minute and now add curry leaves and asafoetida. Mix well and turn off the heat.
- Cool down the tempering and add required lemon juice. Lemon juice can be added to the cooked rice but I like to add lemon juice directly in the tempered lentils.
- To make lemon rice:
- Transfer the tempering to the turmeric rice from above and give it a nice stir. Traditionally it is mixed using hands.
- Adjust salt and lemon juice to suit your taste.
- Let the rice sit for couple of hours and the rice will soak all lemon flavour and will taste really good. It tastes best when made one day before. Finally adjust salt before serving.
My Notes:
- The above prep time is given for cooked rice. For uncooked rice, include another 25 to 30 minutes.
- Adjust spice levels with green chillies or red chillies to suit your taste.
- Add lemon juice only after the rice or tempering cools down, otherwise you get a bitter taste to the rice.
- Quantities of all the ingredients are flexible, play around to get the taste you want.
- The cooked rice grains should be separate and not mushy.
- I would suggest be generous in using curry leaves and peanuts, as they are the key ingredients to a perfect lemon rice.
- You could also add grated carrot to make it healthy and also it gives a good colour to the dish.
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Check out HOW TO COOK PLAIN RICE , INDIAN RICE RECIPES and ONE POT MEALS from blog!!
You might want to check out other popular rice varieties and sides that perfectly go them-
Many more to come!!…..STAY TUNED!!
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Happy Cooking 🙂
Cheers!!
Padma.
