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Turmeric Lemon Rice Recipe. 10 minute Golden Rice with turmeric, lemon and mustard seeds. Indian Lemon Rice. Use cooked brown rice, quinoa, millet or couscous or cauliflower rice for variation. Easy side. Vegan Gluten-free Soy-free Recipe. Pin this post.
This super easy flavorful rice is a great side with simple dals, veggie curries or anything really. I posted a bowl with the Mango Dal, Bengali Veggies with the turmeric rice last week and got many requests for the turmeric lemon rice recipe. So here goes.
TGIF! Make this 10 minute lemony turmeric rice. Or use other cooked grains or cauliflower. I usually use Basmati Rice or a mix of white and brown basmati. Add veggies along the way or just make the plain rice and serve in a bowl of choice. Use up the left-over rice. Curry leaves are available in Indian Stores or online on amazon. The fresh leaves can be frozen for months in an airtight container. Use fresh or frozen right out of the freezer.
Heat the oil. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and let them really start to pop. If the mustard seeds don’t pop, they don’t release their amazing flavor into the food. This is one of the reasons, people often want to add more spices and flavors to the food, esp Indian food, as it feels like there isn’t enough in the dish. If the recipes call for roasting the spices with or without oil, the spices need to be roasted well for the flavor to really bloom into the dish. See video below and notice those popping mustard seeds!
Easy Turmeric Lemon Rice.
Served below with Mango Toor Dal, Easy Bengali Gobi Aloo, some Khakhra(Indian crackers).
More Indian recipes from the blog
- Festive Butternut Squash Pilaf with whole spices.
- Carrot Veggie Turmeric Pilaf /Fried Rice with Indian spices
- Mango Halwa Dessert
- Easy 30 min Veggie Pakora / Fritters.
Turmeric Lemon Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 to 2 cups cooked rice
- 1 tsp oil, high smoke point oils like organic safflower or organic canola
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, preferably black mustard seeds
- 8 to 10 curry leaves, fresh or frozen, whole or chopped
- 2-3 tbsp toasted cashews or peanuts, optional
- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp turmeric
- 1/3 tsp or more red pepper flakes, or 2 broken red chilies
- 2 tbsp or more lemon juice
- cilantro for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the rice, fluff and keep aside or let the rice or other cooked grains you plan to use, come to room temp.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds and let them start to pop. i usually check the oil by adding 2-3 seeds. If they start to sizzle immediately or pop, the oil is ready.
- Add curry leaves and wait for a few seconds. Add turmeric and red pepper flakes and mix in. Reduce heat to medium low. At this point you can add roasted nuts(cashews or peanuts) or peas or both and mix in.
- Add a splash of water to reduce the temperature of the pan. then add the lemon juice.
- Add in the rice and mix in well. Add salt if the cooked rice was not salted. Cook for 2 mins. Taste and adjust salt and lemon. Cover and take off heat. Let it sit for 2 mins before serving. Garnish with cilantro.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Just finished eating this great dish beside the fire. As a main (vegan version) I made it with brown rice, topped off with eggplant pickle and coconut yogurt, and a couple of papadams. Yummmm Well worth making. Thanks
Can curry powder replace the curry leaves? I’ve never seen curry leaves in any grocer. Thanks.
Curry powder is a blend of spices while curry leaves are sweet neem leaves that are green and a vibrant flavor. very different flavors :). You can find curry leaves in Indian stores and freeze them for months and use directly from the freezer.
You can omit the curry leaves. This is a simple rice side. so you can add other flavors if you like when you add turmeric like curry powder or garam masala.
What kind of oil do you suggest using?
Any high smoke point oil like safflower or canola.
This looks superb! Could you substitute the rice for brown rice or wild rice?
What a beautiful, nutritious, and easy side dish. Can’t wait to try it–and popping the mustard seeds. Thanks for the recipe and the tip!
Thanks!
As usual, you photography is amazing 🙂
Thank you Mae!
Yummy! Got to make the mango dal again to go with the rice! Thanks for the recipe. 🙂
any dal will do. Make some!