Easy Indian style Lemon rice is a refreshing, subtly flavored vegan rice recipe from South India. This quick vegan dish gets ready within minutes and is a great way to use leftover rice.
Though lemon rice is a South Indian dish and I am from the North part of India, I grew up eating this delicious rice recipe quite often. Everyone in my family loves South Indian food so my mother who is a very good cook used to regularly prepare a lot of South Indian dishes at home.
Of all the South Indian dishes she makes, lemon rice is one of my favorites. I love the simple flavors, refreshing tangy taste, and the crunch of peanuts and lentils so much that I can survive the whole summer with just a bowl of lemon rice. Curd rice is another South Indian dish on which I can survive the summers.
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Key ingredients for South Indian style lemon rice
Lemon rice is made with only a few basic ingredients that are easily available in almost every kitchen.
Rice:
Lemon rice is made with leftover steamed rice which is tempered with a few basic spices and lime/lemon juice. If you want you can also make it by cooking raw rice with spices and then adding the lime juice. However, in that case, it will be less flavorful.
Use, medium or long grain rice to make this Indian-style lemon rice, choosing a short-grain variety will make it very mushy.
Lime/ lemon juice:
Though it’s called lemon rice, generally lime juice is used in this recipe as lime is more readily available in most parts of India.
If you don’t have lime use lemon juice. You can adjust the amount of lime/ lemon juice depending on your taste.
To make it even more flavorful, you can also add some lemon zest to it.
Nuts and lentils:
One of the things which I liked the most in this rice dish is the crunch of peanuts and lentils. Don’t skip using them. Without the crunch, this dish will become very dull. If allergic to peanuts, you can also use cashew nuts.
Basic spices:
Turmeric powder, mustard seeds, dry red chilies, asafetida, ginger, and curry leaves, only these basic ingredients are used to temper lemon rice.
What to serve with it?
Just like Jeera rice, this mild rice dish goes really well with rich Indian curries and sambhar/ rasam.
However, if you want to serve some simple side dish with lemon rice, just serve it with toasted papadum, a yogurt dip, pickle or just a refreshing salad like kachumber salad.
It’s a very popular lunch box recipe in South India. I remember a lot of my South Indian friends in school used to bring this dish in their tiffin box.
Another great thing about lemon rice is that it gets ready within 15 minutes.
If you like South Indian recipes, then you must keep urad dal and chana dal, black mustard seeds, curry leaves, and asafoetida in your pantry. These ingredients are used in a lot of South Indian recipes like Cabbage Poriyal, Beetroot Poriyal, and Coconut chutney.
More vegan rice recipes
If you also love rice like me don’t miss to check out my other rice recipes on this blog:
- Chickpea pulao
- Vegan Nasi Goreng,
- Hawaiian fried rice.
- Chole Pulao
- Spanakorizo
- Easy Mexican Rice
- Cabbage rice
- Edamame rice
- Peanut butter rice
Step by step photo instructions
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Recipe
Lemon rice
Equipment
- 1 large pan or skillet
- Knife and chopping board
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked rice
- 3-4 tablespoons lemon juice adjust to taste
- 1-2 green chilies finely chopped
- 1 small piece of ginger finely chopped or grated
- 10-12 curry leaves
- ¼ cup raw peanuts
- 1.5 tablespoons chana dal begnal gram
- 1 teaspoon urad dal split & skinless black lentil
- 2 dried red chilies break each into 2-3 pieces
- 1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
- ¼ teaspoon asafoetida
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1.5 tablespoons cooking oil of choice
- Salt to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Heat ½ a tablespoon of oil in a pan and add peanuts. Cook for a few minutes i.e. until the peanuts turn crunchy. Transfer to a bowl.
- Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the same pan. Add broken red chilies, mustard seeds, urad dal, and chana dal. Saute for a few minutes i.e. until the lentils become fragrant and change color.
- Add curry leaves, ginger, and green chilies, Saute for a few seconds.
- Add asafoetida and turmeric powder. Saute for another few seconds.
- Add salt and 2-3 tablespoons of water and cook until the water evaporates. Turn off the heat.
- Add cooked rice and lemon juice. Toss until everything gets mixed well.
- Finally, add peanuts and mix.
Notes
- Leftover rice is the best for making lemon rice. If you don't have leftover rice, cook it at least 2 hours beforehand. Freshly cooked rice breaks easily when tossed.
- You can adjust the amount of lemon juice as per your taste.
- For an authentic South Indian taste of lemon rice, dry roast fenugreek seeds (methi dana) until it becomes fragrant. Allow the seeds to reach room temperature then make a fine powder. Add a small amount of this powder while adding rice and lemon juice. It won't taste bitter but will enhance the flavor of lemon rice.
- Don't overcook ginger otherwise, it will turn bitter.
- Adding green chilies is optional, skip if you don't want to add heat to this dish.
Lemon rice is one of my favorite and my go to recipe when I have to make quick lunch or pack lunch box. Lemon rice looks yum
Thanks Lathiya.
My goto rice to make whenever i have leftover rice, infact i keep some extra rice so i can make some the next day! love it with extra tadka of chana dal and urad dal!!! Looks perfect!!!
Thank you Priya.
Lemon rice looks delicious. It is easy to make and ideal for a quick lunch or dinner.
Thank you, Jayashree.
Lemon rice is my personal favorite and I make it in any given occasion for lunch or dinner. My favorite food to pack when going on a road trip. The tangy flavor just makes us crave for more. Looks delicious and you pictures have made me drool for some 🙂
We are a huge fan of lemon rice and usually prepare rice especially for it. How convenient to use up all of the leftover rice for this amazing dish.
Thanks Jagruti. It's everyone's favorite in my family too. So light and flavorful.
That lemon rice looks so tempting right now vandana! I wish I could dive in! I like your step by step photos.
Thanks a lot Sandhya.
Best way to use up leftover rice...simplicity at its best!! This one pot meal is a saviour for those lazy days and a favourite of most of us...Delicious share ????
Thanks a lot, Padma.
Such are the recipes which you can fall in need of anytime because it is not a rare occasion to have leftover rice at home. Most often they are lying in refrigerator & what would be the best way to utilize them than these delicious lemon rice.
Thank you 🙂
Vegan lemon rice look so yummy Vandana. It's easy to make and is a great way to use leftover rice. I many times do this trick by making good use of leftovers.
It's my super favourite.
Thanks Lata. It's my favorite too 🙂
I usually tend to make extra rice so I can use the leftover to make lemon or tamarind rice... that's if hubby doesn't insist on the gujju style vagharelu bhaat. Lemon rice is so refreshing and a wonderful light meal with such a lovely light yellow colour.
Thanks a lot, Mayuri :). I also prefer leftover rice to make this dish.