Lemon Rice

This is a very common rice fish in South India and the most often made of all the rice dishes. The addition of peanuts gives the dish an additional charm. It can be prepared easily and hence the favourite tiffin item for all mothers. Please try it.

Ingredients

½ cup moong dal or yellow split peas;
1 and ½ cup rice
4 tbsp lime or lemon juice
1 tbsp black mustard seeds;
1 dry red chilli
1 green chilli, chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped or grated
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
3 cups water
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
Few unsalted peanuts

Method

Wash and soak rice and dal, separately, for 15 minutes. Once soaked, wash, drain the water and keep aside.
In a deep pan, bring 3 cups of water to boil. The water level should be to ½-inch above the rice.
Add soaked rice and let it simmer covered, on low-medium flame, until the rice gets cooked (it will take about 15 minutes). Turn off the flame and let the rice rest for five minutes.
Once done, remove from the stove, drain off the excess water, take a fork and fluff the rice so you will have nice separate grains. Keep the cooked rice aside.
In a small bowl, mix lemon juice with turmeric powder and salt.
Now take another pan, heat some oil and add the mustard seeds and dried red chilli. Once the mustard seeds start to pop, reduce the heat to low flame and add soaked and drained dal and lemon juice mixture. Simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the cooked rice along with ginger and chopped green chilli . Stir gently for about 1 minute and your lemon rice is ready to serve!
Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and unsalted peanuts.