South Indian Lemon Rice recipe | Elumichai Sadam
South Indian Lemon Rice recipe or Elumichai Sadam is a traditional variety rice or Kalavai Sadam made with cooked rice, turmeric, lemon juice and finished with a tempering of mustard seeds, lentils and curry leaves. Popular Temple prasadam, travel food and lunch box friendly. This rice is made during major festivals like Aadi 18 and Navaratri in South India. No Onion No Garlic, Sattvik meals.
Servings 2 people
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups Rice Use any short grain - Ponni, Sona Masoori, Kolam
- 2 cups Water
- 1 teaspoon Chana Dal (Kadala Paruppu or Bengal Gram Dal)
- ½ teaspoon Urad Dal or Ulutham Paruppu
- ½ teaspoon Mustard Seeds, Kadagu or Rai
- 1 tablespoon Peanuts
- 3-4 Whole dry red chillies
- 1-2 Fresh green chillies finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 3 tablespoon Sesame Oil
- 2 tablespoon Lemon Juice or Juice of 2 lemons
- 2 Sprigs of curry leaves
- a pinch of asafoetida or hing skip this for gluten free recipe
- Salt to taste
1 cup is 250ml, 1 tbsp 15ml, 1 tsp 5ml
Instructions
- Wash and soak 1 & ½ cups of Rice (short grain rice) for 15-20 minutes. Drain the water, pressure cook using 2 cups water.
- Once the rice is cooked, transfer it to a wide bowl and allow to cool completely.
- Once cool, prepare tempering by heating sesame oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, peanuts, urad dal, chana dal, dry red chillies, finely chopped green chillies and curry leaves.
- When the lentils are toasted (brown) and mustard crackles, add turmeric powder and hing (asafoetida), mix once and switch off the flame.
- Add this tempering to the cooked rice along with salt to taste.
- Add freshly squeezed lemon juice, mix everything well and let it rest for 5 mins (to absorb flavors) before packing in lunch box and/or serving.
Notes
Top Tips to Make Best Lemon Rice
- Any variety of rice can be used for the recipe. Traditionally, aromatic rice or long grain Basmati Rice is not used. I use Sona Masoori, Ponni, Kolam variety of short grain rice. It is available in leading supermarkets and grocery stores.
- If planning this for kids school lunch, cooking the rice can be done previous night to save time. You can use Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker to cook the rice.
- When packing this for travel, add more sesame oil while tempering. It will prevent the rice from drying. The Sesame oil used for the recipe is also referred to as Gingelly oil. Do not use toasted sesame oil (used for Asian cooking) for this recipe. You can also opt for Sunflower oil or vegetable oil.
- If packing for travel, ensure the rice is at room temperature. Packing hot rice will affect shelf life.
- Lemon Rice is consumed at room temperature. It is never served warm. I don't reheat leftovers either. If stored in refrigerator, I simply leave the bowl on the counter top until it attains room temperature.
- Traditionally peanuts are added to the dish. You can add cashews too or skip nuts entirely, if you are allergic.
- The color of Lemon Rice is key - Adding turmeric at the right stage of cooking helps in achieving the color. Turmeric is added to the tempering just before its ready to be mixed with rice.