Lemon Rice | Elumicham Pazharasa Chitraannam

Flavored Rice

Chitrannam is a flavorful tangy dish which is crunchy to taste and easy to make. It can be made with freshly cooked rice or even with leftover rice.

Jump to Recipe

Introduction

About this Recipe

Chitranna or Lemon Rice is a rice-based dish widely prepared in South India. It is prepared by mixing cooked rice with a special seasoning called oggarane or gojju. The typical seasoning consists of mustard seeds, fried lentils, peanuts, curry leaves, chillies, lemon juice. This fried tempering mixture is then poured over steamed rice and everything is mixed together.
Chitrannam is a flavorful tangy dish which is crunchy to taste and easy to make. It can be made with freshly cooked rice or even with leftover rice. The peanuts and cashews add crunch to the tangy and aromatic lemon rice. Sometimes, raw mango and grated coconut are added to make a variant of the recipe. Adding Turmeric gives it the lovely yellow color that is characteristic of this dish.
Besides the Bhaga Shastra where the recipe is called Elumicham Pazharasa Chithraannam, chitranna is mentioned in medieval Indian cookbooks Manasollasa (1130 AD) and Pakadarpana (1200 AD) as “Chitrapaka”. This is often a breakfast item or even served as an evening snack or a special serving in the great Indian platter called the thali. Chitranna is also an important prasada received in many temples across South India, for e.g. in the Tirupati Tirumalai Devasthanam.

 

 

“I WILL GIVE YOU A FEW UNDERSTANDINGS:
ENJOY THROUGH THE TONGUE WHICH YOUR 

WHOLE INTESTINE ENJOYS. YOU WILL BE ‘YOGI’.
DON’T FORCE YOUR WHOLE INTESTINE TO TOLERATE
 

WHAT YOUR TONGUE ENJOYS. THEN YOU WILL BE JUST 

‘ROGI’ (SICK). YOGIS HAVE DEVELOPED A UNIQUE EATING 

STYLE WHICH IS TASTY AND HEALTHY – THAT IS WHAT IS

THE AGAMIC FOOD. I WANTED THAT FOOD DESCRIBED IN

THE BHAGA SHASTRA TO BECOME THE LIFESTYLE, THE FOOD

WHICH IS VERY HEALTHY AND TASTY.
I WANTED BHAGA SHASTRA TO BECOME A LIFESTYLE 

 

– SPH JGM Nithyananda Paramasivam

 

  • Preparation time: 10 mins
  • Cooking time: 30 mins
  • Total time: 40 mins
  • Servings : 3-4 persons
  • Course: Breakfast, Snack, Prasad – Side Dish
  • Cuisine: South Indian cuisine

Ingredients

For Making Rice:

  • Rice- 1/2 padi –750 gms
  • Water- 1½ padi –  2.4 mi 

For Making Lemon Juice:

  • Powdered Crystal Salt – 3/4 palam –26.25 gms 
  • Lemon Juice – 2 palam –70 ml
  • Turmeric Powder- 1/4 Re.Eq – 8.75 gms 

For Tempering:

  • Ghee- 6 palam-  210 ml
  • Red Chilly –1 palam –35 gms
  • Mustard Seeds – ¼ palam- 8.75 gms
  • Black Gram/Urad Dal – ¼ palam –8.75 gms
  • Bengal Gram/Chana Dal –½ palam –17.5 gms
  • Curry Leaves  –¼ palam –8.75 gms

Bhaga Shastra gives ingredient measurements in measurement systems used in the olden days. Hence please use the conversion guidelines to convert it into modern measurement systems. When giving this recipe, we are not rounding any measurements in the modern units, so as to avoid any deviations from the Bhaga shastra. Go to this link for Bhaga Shastra Units Conversion to grams and kilograms:

Cooking Method

  1. Boil the water and add rice.
  2. Allow it to get cooked properly. Drain the excess water.
  3. Put the rice on a clean stone surface or a plate and let it cool.
  4. Take the powdered crystal salt in a vessel that is rust free and add lemon juice and turmeric powder. Mix it well and add this mixture to the cooled down rice.
  5. Take a skillet/pan and add ghee.
  6. When the ghee gets heated up, add mustard seeds, bengal gram, black gram and cut red chillies and wait for the sputtering sound of the mustards to stop.
  7. Now add curry leaves and fry a little.
    Finally, add the rice to this tempered mixture and gently mix it till the whole rice is coated with the lemon and tempering mixture thoroughly.
  8. The Lemon Rice/Chitrannam is now ready to be served
    Serve it in a bowl and offer it to Swamiji as naivedyam

Step by step instructions

1

 

For making the Rice, Boil water in a clay pot and add the rice into it.

2

As the rice boils, it will look like this.

3

Once the rice is completely cooked, Drain the excess water/starch from the rice.

4

The rice after the water/starch has been drained would look like this.

5

Spread the cooked rice out on a plate and let it cool.

6

Preparing the lemon juice mix – Take a bowl and add salt and lemon juice into it.

7

Next, add the turmeric powder to it and mix it all together. Lemon juice mix is ready

8

Add the lemon juice mix to the rice.

9

Mix the lemon juice preparation into the rice gently.

10

To prepare the Tempering,

Take a Kadai/Pan – Add Ghee into it.

11

When the ghee becomes hot, add the mustard seeds, the black gram/urad dal and Bengal gram/chana dal,cut red chillies,curry leaves and let it crackle. The tempering is now ready.

 

12

Bringing it all together: 

Add the tempering to the rice with lemon juice mix in it. Stir and turn the rice gently till it is coated with the tempering and lemon juice mix thoroughly.

13

The lemon rice is now ready to be served.

14

It can now be offered as Neivedyam to Swamiji.