Lemon rice

Lemon Rice

Why have plain boiled basmati rice when you can have lemon rice instead?

Lemon rice is a delicious south Indian dish. The lemon zest gives a very refreshing and tangy flavour while the mustard seeds and cardamom pods add fragrance to the rice.

Serves: 2

200g basmati rice

400ml water

1tsp mustard seeds

4 cardamom pods, crushed

Zest of 1 lemon, juice of half

Groundnut oil

1tsp table salt

Heat a little oil in a pan, add the lemon zest, mustard seeds, cardamom pods and cook for a minute or until fragrant.

Stir in the rice, pour over the water and add the salt. Bring to the boil, stir well, turn down the heat and cover tightly. I usually use tin foil, a lid and if it still doesn’t seem secure enough I put weights on top too!

Cook on a low heat for 12 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to stand for 5 minutes.

Serve with a wedge of lemon each.