LEMON RICE

A very simple rice recipe that is usually prepared with left over rice. This is a very common lunch box recipe which is easy to prepare.

Ingredients
Raw rice/Basmati Rice: 1 cup
Lemon Juice: Extracted from 1 big lemon (Use 2 if using Indian lemon)
Salt: 1 tsp
Channa dal: 2 tablespoon
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Urad dhal: 1/2 tsp
Red chillies: 3 or 4
Green chilli chopped: 1
Oil: 2 tablespoon
Peanuts: 2 tablespoons (Optional)

Procedure:
1) Cook the rice with 2.5 cups of water for 3 whistles.(For Basmati rice use only 2 cups of water)
2) Sprinkle 1 tsp of sesame oil to the cooked rice and allow it to cool
3) Extract the juice from 1 large lemon. Remove the seeds and add the salt
4) Heat the remaining oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.Once it starts spluttering, add Urad dhal, Channa dhal and fry until golden brown. If using peanuts , add at this step
5) Now add the Red chillies and curry leaves and asafoetida and fry well
6) Switch off the stove and add turmeric powder(Do not heat after adding turmeric powder)
7) Add this to the cooled rice. Also add the lemon juice and mix well without breaking the grains

Notes:
Do not mix with very hot rice. The grains will be smashed
Use less water for cooking the rice. We usually use 3 cups of water to cook 1 cup of rice .But for these kind of prepared rice items I use less than 2.5 cups of water

Step by Step pictures