Gastronomic tours with Swiss Cheese

S & I really like lemon rice with daal. She generally does the daal, and I make the lemon rice. I've gone through a few iterations before ending up with this version.

Ingredients

• 1½ cup rice
• 3 cups water
• 1 tsp salt (to taste)
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil (I use grapeseed)
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp jeera (cumin) seeds
• 1 tsp urad daal (skinned & split, not whole)
• ¼ cup peanuts (skin removed, blanched)
• 3 curry leaves
• 2 green chillies sliced into thin circles
• ¼ inch ginger root minced
• 2-3 dried red sambar chillies
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• Zest of ½ lemon

Procedure

1. Heat the oil in a medium (3-4 quart/litre) saucepan
2. Add peanuts and fry until golden brown
3. While the peanuts are frying, wash rice, drain well and set aside
4. Take peanuts out and set aside
5. Add mustard seeds to oil and fry until they start sputtering
6. Add jeera (cumin) seeds and fry for about 30 seconds
7. At this point, heat up 1½ cups of water in the microwave for 1.5 minutes
8. Add urad daal to the frying mixture and fry until it starts to turn brown
9. Add green chillies, ginger, red chillies and curry leaves and fry for a minute
10. Add turmeric powder and mix well, fry for 10 seconds
11. Add the washed and drained rice and mix well with the spices and turmeric, fry for a minute
12. Add the hot water to this rice, and let the whole mix come to a common temperature, then slowly add in the rest of the water
13. Add the peanuts back in, the lemon zest and a third of the lemon juice
14. Add salt and stir it up
15. Cover the saucepan with a lid and cook on medium-low until almost all the water has drained (steam will reduce, but you'll still be able to tilt the pan and the rice will move slowly
16. Turn off the heat and let the rice continue to cook in its steam for 2-3 minutes more
17. Take off the lid and add in the rest of the lemon juice and mix gently taking care not to break the rice

The lemon rice is now ready to eat. Enjoy with daal, curd, pickle, papad or anything else.