Warm, fragrant and utterly beautiful, this rice dish is a perfect accompaniment to any Indian meal.
Recipe from Indian Food
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Serves 4
1 cup basmati rice
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tbsp vegetable oil
½ tbsp black mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric
Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Salt to taste
2 cups boiling water
Put kettle on to boil water.
In a frying pan over medium-low heat, heat the vegetable oil and mustard seeds for a couple minutes until the seeds are fragrant. Add the chili flakes and let them heat in the oil for 3o seconds. Add the rice, tumeric, lemon rind and salt. Stir the rice around and let the grains get coated in the spice mixture. Add the boiling water, let come up to to a nice simmer, add a lid and turn to low. Let the rice simmer covered for 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and keep covered for about 5 more minutes.
When ready to serve, sprinkle with cilantro.
Click here for printable version of Indian Lemon Rice
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THE RESULTS?
This is probably the prettiest rice I have ever eaten. The bright sunny yellow color with flecks of black and green are so appealing to the eye that they become more pleasing to the palate. I thought tumeric was more of a natural food coloring, rather than a spice that was actually spicy, but the tumeric combined with the red chili flakes gives this rice a slight bit of heat that's warm and fragrant.
When I went to the store to buy my groceries, I couldn't justify paying $1 for a fresh lemon when I had a bottle of lemon juice at home that I had paid about $2.50 for. I know lemon juice really isn't an exact substitute for lemon rind, since the rind has such pungent lemon oils in it, but I really didn't care. Instead of the lemon rind I used about 1 tsp of lemon juice and it wasn't enough. Our rice really wasn't "lemony" at all. If I use juice as a substitute for rind again, I will definitely up the amount of juice I use to a couple of tablespoons. It was still delicious though. And a perfect accompaniment to the Tandoori Chicken since the chicken doesn't have a sauce.
Need some delicious Indian recipes to serve with the rice? Try these: