South Indian Lemon Rice Recipe (Chitranna) - Spice Up The Curry (2024)

Lemon rice is one of the easiest rice recipes that gets ready in just 10 minutes! It is made by mixing cooked rice with the tempering of whole spices, nuts and curry leaves.

This south Indian lemon rice is part of an everyday meal in Karnataka and it is known as Chitranna in the Kannada language.

❤️ Why You'll Love This Lemon Rice Recipe?

Quick to make: As I said, you’ll need just 10 minutes to prepare this Indian lemon rice (if you have cooked rice ready).

Easy to make: No skills are required to make this simple rice dish. Even a beginner can make it without fail. You just need to make a tempering and mix it with cooked rice.

Pack in a lunch box: Make rice a day before and keep it ready in the fridge. And in the morning, quickly whip up this Indian lemon rice to pack into kid's or adult’s lunch box. It tastes good on its own. But you can pack yogurt, pickle, salad or papad to go with it.

Good as a travel food: You can pack it for a road trip or train travel as it stays good throughout the day and it tastes good at room temperature.

Taste & Flavor: This lemon rice has a mild flavor (spice level can be adjusted) with a delicate tang from the lemon. You’ll get a crunch of nuts in every bite.

Dietary Info: This lemon rice is vegan and Gluten-free.

🧾 Ingredient Notes For Chitranna

Here is a pic of ingredients you’ll need to make this easy South Indian lemon rice recipe aka Chitranna.

• Cooked rice:
  • You can cook the rice fresh or use leftover rice.
  • Use any variety of non-sticky rice that you use on daily basis. Usually, short-grain rice like sona masoori is used to make this dish. But you can use basmati rice if you have that one handy.
  • Cook your rice until soft, tender and the grains are separated without getting mushy.
• Oil: You can use any oil like peanut oil, sesame oil or even refined oil. In this recipe, you can use olive oil as well.
• Green chilies: Adjust the amount as per your preferred spice level.
  • Mild: Use Indian long green chilies.
  • Medium to spicy: Use small spicy chilies (aka Thai chilies).
• Peanuts & Cashews: Peanuts are used on daily basis. While cashew nuts are added for guests or on special occasions only.
• Curry leaves: It adds a nice flavor and aroma to the rice.
• Turmeric powder: It adds a nice yellow color. Plus, it acts as a preservative when taken for travel or lunch-box.
• Lemon juice: Freshly squeezed lemon juice is highly recommended over the bottled juice.

👩‍🍳 How To Make Indian Lemon Rice? (Stepwise Photos)

1) Heat oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add mustard seeds and let them splutter.

2) Add urad dal and saute until they turn light brown.

3) Add peanuts and cashews.

4) Fry with stirring constantly until nuts turn golden brown.

5) Add green chilies, curry leaves and dried red chili.

6) Saute for 30-40 seconds or until chilies have some blisters.

7, 8) Add turmeric powder and stir.

9, 10, 11) Add cooked rice, salt and lemon juice.

12) Toss the rice gently to mix everything well and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the rice is heated through. Then turn off the stove.

💭Expert Tips

• Never add lemon juice to hot tempering otherwise it will lose its delicate lemon flavor and alters the lemon’s tangy flavor to slightly bitter.
• Instead of lemon juice, you can use limes as well. But reduce the amount if using limes as they are a bit more tangier than lemons.
• Storage: You can store this in the fridge for up to 2 days in an airtight container. But if you’ve made it using leftover rice (a day old) then it is not advisable to store it again in the refrigerator. In that case, make the required amount and consume all.
• Adjust the salt amount if your cooked rice already has salt in it.

Did you try this Indian lemon rice recipe (aka Chitranna)? I’d love to hear about it! Leave a review in the comment section below.

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