Traditional Indian Lemon Rice Recipe {Gluten-Free, Vegan}

Lemon Rice makes for the perfect healthy side dish. With a flair of Indian flavors this lemon rice is made with turmeric, ginger, chili, lemon and Indian spices. Gluten Free and Vegan

Lemon rice is going to be your new favorite healthy side dish recipe. This lemon rice dish is deeply infused with fragrant and aromatic Indian flavors.

I love Indian food but rarely cook it at home – mainly because a lot of the time Indian recipes requires a large variety of spices which I usually do not have on hand. Thereby requiring me to venture out to an Indian store (not that easy to find) and invest in these various ingredients.

Luckily, this past weekend while I was home I stopped by to see my best friend’s mom who generously gave me a bunch of her Indian recipes, cookbooks and spices. And so for my first recipe I chose this lemon rice. A simple yet traditional recipe that would make a great jumping off point for Indian cooking. Though I was still missing a few ingredients I figured I would give this lemon rice recipe a shot anyway. I personally love Indian food and the spices and flavors that are so prevalent in Indian cooking. Having spent 2 weeks traveling through Northern India, I was able to same a ton of the local cuisine and especially the various vegetarian dishes. I chose to eat strictly vegetarian while I was in India so instead of my usual favorite – chicken tikka masala which is what I always order at an Indian restaurant in the US, I was able to sample all sorts of other delicious and incredible Indian vegetarian dishes. There is so much variety in the cuisine and it’s a shame it took me so long to explore the many different vegetable based dishes.

What amazes me in this recipe is that even a quarter teaspoon of turmeric is powerful enough to completely alter the color of an entire cup of rice – transforming it from white to vibrant yellow. And we all know by now that turmeric has about 1000 health benefits and pretty much needs to be incorporated into every day. I myself personally do not cook enough with turmeric – never really knowing what to do with it. Well this is the easiest way to add some turmeric to your diet – by just adding it to this lemon rice. Nothing too complicated about that and your body will simply say thank you.

The other spices in this lemon rice recipe do their part as well – taking the bland dry rice and injecting it with deep Indian flavors. And finally the touch of lemon juice gives it the perfect tang (or is it zing?). I apologize if I’ve butchered an authentic recipe by leaving out some of the ingredients, and though I don’t know how it should really taste, I thoroughly enjoyed the lemon rice I ended up with. It made for the perfect side dish to my red pepper, mushroom and artichoke salad.

This lemon rice would also pair well with any kind of curry style dish or a dish with a lot of sauce that needed to be soaked up.

So next time you’re looking for ideas for rice side dishes, consider making this simple yet flavorful Indian lemon rice.

Looking for other rice recipes. Check out these:

• One Pan Mediterranean Rice with Sausage, Lemons and Olives {GF, DF}
• Vegan Winter Salad with Rice and Cilantro Tahini Sauce {GF}
• Tuna Egg Salad with Rice, Capers and Cucumbers {GF, DF}

How to make lemon rice

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Indian Lemon Rice

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

30 mins

 

Lemon Rice makes for the perfect healthy side dish. With a flair of Indian flavors this lemon rice is made with turmeric, ginger, chili, lemon and Indian spices. Gluten Free and Vegan | avocadopesto.com

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: Indian

Servings: 4

Calories: 268 kcal

Author: Vicky Berman

Ingredients

• 1 cup long grained rice
• 1-2 green chilies finely chopped
• 1 inch piece ginger peeled and finely chopped
• 1/4 cup raw peanuts
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• salt to taste
• 2 lemons juiced
• cilantro for garnish
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon urad dal

Instructions

1. Add rice to a pot, pouring enough water to cover the rice by 2 inches and let sit for 30-45 minutes. Rinse the rice until water runs clear. Add a little bit less than 2 cups water to the pot and bring to a boil. Add turmeric and salt. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until rice is cooked through. Remove from heat and let sit, covered for 5 minutes.
2. Over medium heat add 2 teaspoons olive oil to pan. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and urad dal to pan. When mustard seeds start to pop add green chilies, ginger and peanuts. Cook over medium heat 2-3 minutes, stirring occassionally.
3. Add cooked rice to spice mix and stir to combine. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Garnish with chopped cilantro.