Skip to main content

Chitranna / Lemon Rice

Chitranna
Anyone experiencing the Monday blues? I am feeling too lazy to cook anything.  But at the same time, I don't want any takeout either. South Indian lemony rice, well known as Chitranna, seemed like a nice easy lunch to cook. The crunchy peanuts and aromatic dals make this tangy rice a true delight as a meal or as a snack.

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Raw Peanuts/Groundnuts/Shenga - 1/3 cup
Chana Dal/Split Bengal Gram/Split Chickpeas - 2 tsp
Urad Dal/Split Black Gram - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric/Haldi - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves/Kadipata - a sprig
Coriander/Cilantro/Dhania Leaves - few sprigs
Green Chilies - 3
Onion - 1 medium
Oil - 3 tbsp
Lime/Lemon - 1
Salt

How to make South Indian Chitranna:
  • Wash rice well with water. Drain all the water. Cook washed rice with 1 1/2 cups water, little salt and 1/2 tbsp oil. 
  • Oil is optional, but the cooked rice does not turn sticky because of oil. Fluff the cooked rice with a fork and set it aside.
  • Finely chop onions, cilantro and green chilies. Pat the curry leaves dry.
  • Heat 2 1/2 tbsp oil in a pan. Add peanuts and fry them until the color slightly changes. Set the fried peanuts aside with rice.
  • In the same pan, add mustard seeds, urad dal and chana dal. When the dals slightly change color and turn aromatic, add onions, curry leaves and green chilies. Sauté until onions soften.
  • Now add little salt and turmeric. Saute for few seconds. Add cooked rice, peanuts and cilantro. Mix all the ingredients well. Turn off the heat and add lime juice. Mix again. Add more or less lime juice to suit your taste.
Serve tangy Chitranna with Raita/Koshimbir.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments, Suggestions and Feedback are welcome.
Any comment with a Link/URL or any kind of promotion will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Indian Dal / Lentils

Lentils, known as Dal are a staple in an Indian diet, especially vegetarian. For me, dal is comfort food. 5 different dal varieties - Toor, Moong, Chana, Masoor and Urad are commonly used in Indian sweet and savory delicacies. You can cook dal with just one kind or a mix of two or more. I generally cook dal with 1:1 Toor and Moong dals. But then, we like Panchmel or Panchratna Dal too, which is made of all five. Most dal recipes have Toor dal as the primary ingredient. It is also known as Toovar or Arhar dal or Split Pigeon Peas . Some of our family favorite dal recipes are Dalitoy (Konkani Dal)  Tadka Dal Among all lentils, moong dal and masoor dal take lesser time to cook. Moong dal is also known as Split Green Gram or Split Mung Bean . Moong dal is also used in making sweet dishes like Mung Dal Kheer  Mung Dal Puranpoli Chana dal is also known as Split Bengal Gram or Split Chickpeas . Chana Dal takes a little more time to cook as compared to toor dal....
Post a Comment
Read more

Naval Kol Bhaji / Kohlrabi Stir-fry

Green Kohlrabi called as Navalkol in Marathi and Navilkosu in Kannada, belongs to the cabbage family.  My Mom used to make this stir fry very often.  Just like cabbage, this vegetable in available in two colors - green and purple.  I was quite hesitant about the purple one, as I haven't seen that back in India.  Anyway, I picked the green bulbs and Navalkohl Bhaji with Chana Dal was part of our healthy vegetarian meal today.
14 comments
Read more

Surti Val Papdi Bhaji

My Mom used to make Val Papdi Bhaji in a simple way with few ingredients. This is the first time I gave it a try here in my US kitchen. This stir fry does require little more oil, as no water is added for cooking. Dal Rice tastes great with this sauteed Papdi.  I tried this Bhaji once with frozen Surti Papdi and I was not happy with the result. I prefer fresh Papdi for this recipe, which I can only find in the local Indian store. I am not sure if Val Papdi is called as Navy Bean or Fava Bean in English.
13 comments
Read more