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Lemon Rice – Quick & Easy Leftover Rice Recipe

Lemon Rice – Quick & Easy Leftover Rice Recipe

Quick, Easy, and absolutely delicious recipe for lunch or dinner – Lemon Rice. This dish is perfect especially for dinner because it is quite light and gets ready fast. You just need some leftover rice and some basic spices and 10 minutes (or even less) of yours 🙂 That’s it. So, next time you make rice, make it a little extra so that the next day you can make this simple yet tasty recipe.

For more dinner recipes, you must check out – Dalia Pulao, Vegan Pad Thai Noodles, Raw Mango Dal Rasam, and Chickpea Pulao.

Story Time

This recipe has a special place in our hearts. Want to know why?

When Jatin & I were dating, I was living in Gujrat and he was in Delhi. Once he traveled from Delhi to Gujrat to surprise me. I was getting ready for the office and the doorbell rang. I quickly opened the door while getting ready and was too surprised to see him standing at my door. That was such a lovely time. Anyway, he planned a trip to Diu and as soon I was back from the office he told me that we have to catch a bus in a couple of hours. I was excited and since I had no time to cook and I had some leftover rice in the fridge, I quickly made lemon rice and packed for our journey.

He never had lemon rice until that time and when we had it, he instantly fell in love with it. I am not even kidding. Since then, lemon rice became our go-to trip meal. Whenever we are on a trip, he always tells me to make this recipe, and then we go back to this sweet memory lane. So, this recipe is quite special for us.

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What is Lemon Rice?

Lemon Rice is a popular South Indian recipe that gets ready in a jiffy. It is so simple yet packed with amazing flavors.

It is often made with the leftover rice or with the precooked rice that has been cooled down completely. The rice is then tempered with some basic ingredients like curry leaves, mustard seeds, peanuts, dry red chili, salt, and turmeric powder. It is that simple to make and it is quite comforting and light to enjoy over a meal. It makes a perfect meal for the days when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

How to serve Lemon Rice?

Lemon Rice can be served as is or you can even serve it with buttermilk or curd, rasam, or sambar. You can even enjoy this with some South Indian chutneys.

lemon rice

Is this recipe vegan?

Yes. Of course. All the ingredients used in this recipe are vegan and plant-based.

More Indian vegan recipes to try – Misal Pav, Seviyan, Vegan Dum Biryani.

More South Indian recipes to try

  1. Raw Mango Dal Rasam
  2. Instant Masala Dosa
  3. Instant Spinach & Beetroot Idli

Now we are all ready to make this deliciously simple and comforting meal – Lemon Rice. It is a nourishing bowl of happiness. Make it over lunch or for a quick dinner and enjoy it when it is hot.

If you make this recipe and like it too, please share the photo of your dish on Instagram and tag us too @thefearlesscooking. We love to see your recreation of our recipes.

Happy Cooking 🙂

Love from us

Richa & Jatin

Lemon Rice – Quick & Easy Leftover Rice Recipe

Quick. Easy. Delicious.

Simple. Flavourful. Comforting. 

These are the 3 words that perfectly describe this recipe. Sometimes I wonder how come something so simple can be so tasty. You must try it today for dinner.

2

Servings

5 min

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

15 min

Total Time


Ingredients

Steps

  1. Heat some oil in a pan. 
  2. Once the oil is heated, add mustard seeds, chana dal, and urad dal. Saute and let them sizzle for 15-20 seconds or until dals turn slightly brown. They burn fast so keep the flame on medium-low. 
  3. Then add curry leaves and dry red chili. Saute for a few seconds. 
  4. Add roasted peanuts and cashews and saute for a couple of minutes or until cashews are lightly roasted. 
  5. Add salt, turmeric powder, and green chili. Saute and mix well. Just cook for a couple of seconds so that the raw smell of turmeric powder goes away. 
  6. Add cooked rice and mix everything well. Cook for a couple or minutes so that all the flavors get mixed well with the rice. 
  7. Once done, switch off the flame. Add lemon juice and coriander leaves. Mix well and serve. Enjoy :)

FAQs

What is lemon rice?
+
Lemon Rice is a popular South Indian recipe that gets ready in a jiffy. It is so simple yet packed with amazing flavors. It is often made with the leftover rice or with the precooked rice that has been cooled down completely. The rice is then tempered with some basic ingredients like curry leaves, mustard seeds, peanuts, dry red chili, salt, and turmeric powder. It is that simple to make and it is quite comforting and light to enjoy over a meal. It makes a perfect dinner recipe for the days when you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

How to serve Lemon Rice?
+

Lemon rice can be served as is or you can even serve it with buttermilk or curd, rasam, or sambar. You can even enjoy this with some South Indian chutneys.


What are some popular South Indian Recipes to try?
+

Everybody loves South Indian food because of its simplicity and the burst of different flavors. You must try the following South Indian recipes:

  1. Idli
  2. Masala Dosa
  3. Appam
  4. Lemon Rice
  5. Rasam Rice
  6. Sambar
  7. Appe
  8. Idiyappam
  9. Vada Sambar
  10. Curd Rice

Can we eat lemon rice at night for dinner?
+

This is a subjective question. Some people feel acidic when they consume it at night because of the lemon in it. But we mostly make it for dinner since it is quite easy and simple. And it suits our body. We don’t feel acidic or heat burn or anything like that. Every body is different and food is like medicine. It reacts differently with different bodies. So, try and see if it suits you. If it doesn’t then enjoy it over lunch.


What is lemon called in India?
+

In India, lemon is called Nimbu. It is the Hindi translation of the word. Although different regions have different names for it like Nemu Tenga in Assam, Champra in Manipur, Elumicchai in Tamil, etc. (I googled these names so please let me know if they are not correct)

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