Lemon rice

Ingredients 

Cooked rice - 1 cup (cooking rice)

Lemon- 1

Salt- to taste 

Sesame Oil -1-2 tbsp ( I typically use sesame oil from the Indian store not the toasted sesame oil which changes the taste of these dishes. If you don’t have access to sesame oil you can use canola or vegetable oil too)

For seasoning 

Black Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal- Split dehusked black gram - 1 tsp 

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp 

Ginger - cut into small pieces- 1 tsp

Asafoetida - pinch

Green chilly- 1-2 de seeded and finely chopped

Curry leaf - 4 or 5

Cilantro leaves - chopped 1 Tsp

Salt to taste 

Oil - 1 tbsp for tempering the seasoning 

Peanuts - 2to 3 tbsp 

Instructions 

1. Take the cooked rice and put it in a bowl
2. Add 1 to 2 tbsp of oil to it and mix it so the rice is coated with oil
3. Cut the lemon and squeeze the juice from it into a cup  and add salt to it. Then add it little by little to the rice ( to desired tartness). 
4. Place a pan on the stove at medium heat and add a tbsp of oil to it . Place the peanuts in here and sauté them until slightly brown and set aside
5. Add a little bit of oil to the pan and heat it up and then add the mustard and urad dal seeds and let them sputter. Add the turmeric powder and sauté it .Then add the other ingredients listed in the seasoning in the order in which listed and set aside
   
   
6. To the bowl of lemon rice that has been set aside add the peanuts and seasoning and mix well. Lemon rice is now ready to serve. You can eat it with potato poriyal (potato poriyal),potato chips, papad etc.

Yogurt rice

I love eating rice with different things added to it. In South Indian cuisine rice is a staple and there are different things that can be added to rice such as sambar, rasam, kootu etc. These are different kind of gravies added to cooked white rice . There are also rice dishes called ‘variety rice’ which are rice dishes with stuff already added to them such as biryani, lemon rice, coconut rice etc.

Yogurt rice can be as simple as adding yogurt to plain white rice with a little bit of salt and mixing it together or it can be served premixed in a little fancier fashion as shown below. Yogurt rice is eaten at the end of the meal since it cools down the palate.

Ingredients

Cooked medium grain white rice (cooking rice)- 1 cup

Warm milk - 1/4 cup

Plain yogurt or sour cream- 1/2 - 3/4 cup 

For seasoning 

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Urad dal- Split dehusked black gram 1/2 tsp

Peanuts or cashews  - 2 Tbsp

Ginger - cut into small pieces- 1/2 tsp

Asafoetida - pinch

Green chilly- 1/2 de seeded and finely chopped ( optional) 

Curry leaf - 4 or 5

Cilantro leaves - chopped 1 Tsp

Salt to taste 

Oil - 1 tbsp for tempering the seasoning 

Instructions 

1. In a bowl let the rice cool down
2. Add the warm milk and mix well ( this is added to the rice so that the yogurt doesn’t get sour if serving later)
3. Add the yogurt to the rice and mix well. You want the rice in a rice pudding like consistency.
4. Place a pan on the stove on medium heat and add oil to it.
5. Now add the seasoning ingredients one at a time to the oil in the order that they are listed. Ensure the mustard seeds sputter and the urad dal gets slightly brown before adding the peanuts ( roasted until golden brown). Now add the rest of the ingredients and roast  for a few seconds.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Take off the stove. Now add the seasoning to the yogurt rice, add salt to taste and mix well.
7. Yogurt rice is ready to serve ! It can be eaten by itself or with vegetables ( poriyal)  like potato poriyal (potato poriyal) eggplant poriyal, etc. or with pickle.