Chitranna lemon rice

Name: Chitranna lemon rice
Prep time: 8 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 500 g Plain ready-cooked rice; 60 g Roasted peanuts; 20 g Rapeseed oil; 5 g Mustard seeds; 8 g Curry leaves; 4 g Dried red chillies; 3 g Ground turmeric; 35 g Lemon juice; 2 g Salt; 12 g Fresh coriander

South Indian cooked rice tossed with mustard, curry leaves, turmeric, lemon and crunchy peanuts.

Estimated total time: 20 minutes2 portionsAbout 620 kcal per portion

Chitranna lemon rice — representative dish photograph — Photo: Zeel Patel · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Photo source. Wikimedia photograph; responsive display cropping. The pictured rice has no clearly visible peanuts or coriander, while both are measured in this version.

Ingredients for 2 portions

500 g Plain ready-cooked rice
60 g Roasted peanuts
20 g Rapeseed oil
5 g Mustard seeds
8 g Curry leaves
4 g Dried red chillies
3 g Ground turmeric
35 g Lemon juice
2 g Salt
12 g Fresh coriander

Method

Have 500 g plain ready-cooked rice cooled and stored safely in advance; preparing rice from dry adds substantial time. Measure 60 g already-roasted peanuts. Tear 8 g curry leaves, break 4 g dried red chilli into pieces, chop 12 g coriander and squeeze 35 g fresh lemon juice.
Heat 20 g rapeseed oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Add 5 g mustard seeds and wait until they start to pop. Add the curry leaves and dried chilli and stir for about a minute, then lower the heat and stir in 3 g turmeric without letting it scorch.
Add the cooked rice and 2 g salt. Toss gently so the grains are evenly yellow and reheat the rice thoroughly until steaming hot. Fold in the roasted peanuts and turn off the heat. Stir in all the lemon juice and most of the coriander; cooking the lemon juice for long can dull its taste.
Cover the pan for 3–4 minutes so the flavours settle. Divide into two main-meal portions and finish with the remaining coriander.

Dassana Amit’s Chitranna reference uses cooked rice with a mustard-and-curry-leaf tempering, nuts and lemon. This 20-minute version assumes ready-cooked rice and roasted peanuts, omits optional cashews and urad dal, and uses neutral rapeseed oil rather than raw-seed gingelly oil; it remains a recognisable lemon rice, not the catalogue’s egg fried rice or poha. Peanuts and mustard are flagged allergens. The Commons photo shows lemon rice with dark chilli and curry leaves but no clearly visible peanut garnish; its exact ingredients are unknown. Cooking rice from dry is excluded from the time estimate. The calorie value is an ingredient-based editorial estimate.

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Allergens and ingredient checks

Listed allergens: mustard, peanuts. Check actual packaging and cross-contact information. Nutrition is estimated from ingredient weights; recipe suitability depends on the specified products.

Dassana Amit / Veg Recipes of India — South Indian Chitranna reference

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