Chef Ranveer Brar shares 3 smart tips to make restaurant-style Lemon Rice

Lemon rice, also known as Nimbu Sadam is a classic and very popular South Indian dish, celebrated for its bright, tangy flavours and comforting simplicity. While making lemon rice looks quite an easy task, people often get it wrong and end up making one with bitter aftertaste. Made with fluffy cooked rice, tossed in a fragrant tempering of mustard seeds, curry leaves, peanuts, and turmeric, it is finished with a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice that instantly lifts the dish. And if you are someone who loves making it but often gets it wrong, it is important to understand that adding the lemon juice is a crucial step, and once done wrong it can spoil the dish. In a recent reel on Instagram, celebrity chef Ranveer Brar explained the three smart tips one should follow to get the Lemon Rice dish right. Scroll down to read the details.

Chef Ranveer explains that we are not making fried rice, so do not fry it too much like the regular fried rice. Add a splash of water, so that it gets a bit of a dum and your dish is ready. As per chef Ranveer, frying it too much will make the dish dry and chewy.

He also suggests that after adding the lemon juice, add a little water or add the lemon juice after the rice cools down or comes to room temperature so that the bitterness of the lemon juice does not come.

Third thing, he states that whenever you eat it, combine it with creamy side dishes like avial or kuttu, in which coconut's creaminess is used. It goes really well with them and the creamy flavour compliments the tanginess of lemon juice.

Ingredients: 2 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp whole black gram, 1 tsp chana dal, 1 sprig curry leaves, 2 dry red chillies, 2-3 fresh green chillies, 6-8 cashew nuts, 8-10 peanuts, 1 tsp turmeric powder, salt to taste, 1 tbsp lemon juice 2 cups Kolum rice, and 4-5 curry leaves
Method: To begin with, heat sesame oil and add mustard seeds, whole black gram, chana dal and let it get nutty brown. Next, add curry leaves, dry red chillies, green chillies, and saute for a minute. Now, add cashew nuts, peanuts, and saute until light golden brown. Switch off the flames and add turmeric powder, salt, lemon juice and then toss in the rice. Switch the flames back on and sprinkle some water on the rice, cover and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove the lid and crushed minutes of curry leaves and salt, mix it properly and serve warm with avial or kuttu.

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