SOME MEAN LEMON RICE (CHITRANNAM)!

Have you noticed the spicy NEW Indian look of "In love with food"??, thought of whipping up something that India holds dear to the heart, and guess came to mind?...yes! some Lemon rice or Chitrannam, sour, hot and real good.Husband takes a bite and fondly says, "Wow! That's some mean lemon rice!".

 To make this you require-(recipe from here)

• 4 cups of freshly cooked rice.
• 2 to 3 juicy lemons 
• 6 to 8 green chillies,deseeded and slit
• 1/4 cup Chana dal (soak for an hour)
• 2 tbsp Urad dal
• 1 teaspoon each salt and turmeric
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 12- 15 fresh curry leaves. 
• Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp
• Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
• 1 medium boiled potato

Method-

1. Heat ghee in a pan and add the cumin, mustard and curry leaves, fry till sizzling.
2. Add chana and urad dal as well as the potato and green chillies and cook till crisp and brown.
3. Now add haldi and salt and cook for a few more minutes.,tip in the rice and give a good stir  lastly squeeze lemon juice on top and serve hot.

TIPS-

• I prefer Basmati rice and cook it till just done, not mushy.The way to do this is to take rice in a large vessel and add plenty of water to it.Cook on medium flame for 15-20 minutes adding more water to keep rice submerged.Taste a grain or two for doneness.Drain well and leave on slow flame again to dry out any remaining moisture.You will get perfect rice like in a pulao.
• Be careful while handling chillies.Been there, done that!, wear gloves.I find the amount of chillies little high for my preference so deseed them accordingly.
• I use boiled/raw potato both depending upon what I have at hand, so can you.
• Don't skip the curry leaves, they are very important.
• To get this shape of rice press down hot rice in a bowl or katori with the back of a spoon, put a plate on top on which you would be serving and turn upside down, Voila!, you have the desired shape.Garnish with curry leaves and serve.
• Cashewnuts and peanuts are also fried till golden and added for extra flavour.
• The accompaniment of choice for Chitrannam is yogurt since it cools the palate, given that the rice is hot, spicy and tangy.