Lemon Rice - Chitrannam

One of my favorite dishes to eat and to cook & feed. When I think of this dish, I think spice, spice and more spice!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of rice
• 10 green Thai chillies
• 1 tsp jeera seeds
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 cup peanuts
• 1 tbsp split chana daal
• 1 tbsp split urad daal
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 5 dried red chillies
• 5 sprigs of curry leaves
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• Lemon juice from 2-3 whole limes/lemons - about 1/4 cup.
• 2 cups of grated raw mango (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro for garnishing

Directions:
Cook rice in a rice cooker/instapot/pressure cooker, whichever method, the texture should be such that the grains separate from each other. That would be best. Even if it is not like that, don't stress about it - taste will be good anyways :)

Coarsely grind the green chillies along with the jeera and salt in a mixie. Use the pulse mode. Turning it on about 5-8 times should get you the coarse paste that we want. Keep this aside.

In a small dish, get the oil on medium heat. Add peanuts when its hot and let this cook until the peanuts start to change color slightly. At this point, add the chana daal and urad daal. When these start to brown slightly, add the mustard seeds. These should start spluttering almost immediately given that its on medium heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer now and add the dried red chilies and curry leaves. Watch out and be careful since the moisture in the curry leaves will splutter a lot in the hot the oil. I usually keep a lid handy and use it as a shield ;) Cover it if needed.
When its safe to remove the lid, add turmeric powder and salt. Next add the chilli paste and let it cook in the oil until the bright green color changes to a dull green. In about 2 mins, you can turn the heat off. If you're using a glass top stove, move the dish off the stove.
Add the lemon juice and raw mango to the mixture and stir until it is all evenly mixed.

Mix 2 tbsp of this mixture to about half the cooked rice. Adjust salt and you can add more lemon juice if needed. If the Thai chillies you used are spicy, then you might need to add more lemon juice. If the chillies are not as spicy, then you will end up using more of the prepared mixture in less rice.
Add more rice and more mixture together until you have the desired quantity. Lastly, sprinkle in the chopped cilantro. Serve and enjoy!

A good side that can go with this would be fried varugulu or vadiyalu.
Chitrannam is a staple at our house for any festival - Ganesh Chaturthi, Deepavali, Ugadi, Sankranthi... all Indian festivals :) The below pic is from a festival thaali for Ganesh Chaturthi.

Mullangi Sambar Recipe

In this recipe, I'll describe the steps for Mullangi (radish) Sambar.

Ingredients:

• Two radishes
• 1" ball of tamarind soaked in 1/2 cup water
• For pressure cooking:
• 1 cup toor daal
• 2 ripe tomatoes - chopped
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp dhania powder
• 1 tsp jeera powder

• For tadka:
• 2 tbsp oil
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp jeera seeds
• 3 pinches of hing (asafoetida)
• 2 sprigs of curry leaves
• 1 1/2 tsp of sambar powder

Directions:

Wash and cut up the mullangi into 1" cubes. Put them in a cooking vessel, add 1/3 tsp of salt and fill it up with enough water to cover the mullangi and bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiling, simmer it and continue cooking for about 20 mins. Once it is cooked, you can turn the stove off.

Meanwhile, add the daal, chopped tomatoes, turmeric, dhania and jeera powders along with 2.5 cups of water in a pressure cooker and cook until 2 whistles or 20-25 mins on medium heat. I heat it on high until pressure builds in the cooker. Then bring it down to medium to medium-low heat until done.

Once you are able to open the pressure cooker, add the boiled mullangi and all its water into the daal in the pressure cooker and keep this on simmer.

Squeeze the tamarind pulp and add it to the daal mixture.

For tadka: In a separate small vessel, heat up the oil and once its hot, add the garlic. Let it cook a little bit and then add mustard and jeera. Give this a few seconds and then add the curry leaves.

Lastly, add the hing and the sambar powder. Give this just about 5-7 seconds and add it to the daal mixture and stir well. Add salt as per your taste and Sambar is ready!
I would add about 1 1/2 tsp to the final quantity.

In this recipe all the spice comes from the sambar powder. When I use store bought sambar powder, it is usually MTR brand. If you want to lessen the spice levels, reduce the amount of sambar powder. Even 1/2 tsp will give you good flavor. To add extra spice, consider adding red chilli powder in the pressure cooker while cooking the daal. Another ingredient you can consider trying different quantity is tamarind. Control that, and you will get a different variation every time.

Another optional ingredient is jaggery. 1"-2" cube can be added to the above ingredient list and can be added to the mixture when you add the cooked vegetable to the daal.

Sambar Recipe - Mullangi Sambar

In this recipe, I'll describe the steps for Mullangi (radish) Sambar.

Ingredients:

• Two radishes
• 1" ball of tamarind soaked in 1/2 cup water
• For pressure cooking:
• 1 cup toor daal
• 2 ripe tomatoes - chopped
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp dhania powder
• 1 tsp jeera powder

• For tadka:
• 2 tbsp oil
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp jeera seeds
• 3 pinches of hing (asafoetida)
• 2 sprigs of curry leaves
• 1 1/2 tsp of sambar powder

Directions:

Wash and cut up the mullangi into 1" cubes. Put them in a cooking vessel, add 1/3 tsp of salt and fill it up with enough water to cover the mullangi and bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiling, simmer it and continue cooking for about 20 mins. Once it is cooked, you can turn the stove off.

Meanwhile, add the daal, chopped tomatoes, turmeric, dhania and jeera powders along with 2.5 cups of water in a pressure cooker and cook until 2 whistles or 20-25 mins on medium heat. I heat it on high until pressure builds in the cooker. Then bring it down to medium to medium-low heat until done.

Once you are able to open the pressure cooker, add the boiled mullangi and all its water into the daal in the pressure cooker and keep this on simmer.

Squeeze the tamarind pulp and add it to the daal mixture.

For tadka: In a separate small vessel, heat up the oil and once its hot, add the garlic. Let it cook a little bit and then add mustard and jeera. Give this a few seconds and then add the curry leaves.

Lastly, add the hing and the sambar powder. Give this just about 5-7 seconds and add it to the daal mixture and stir well. Sambar is ready.

In this recipe all the spice comes from the sambar powder. When I use store bought sambar powder, it is usually MTR brand. If you want to lessen the spice levels, reduce the amount of sambar powder. Even 1/2 tsp will give you good flavor. To add extra spice, consider adding red chilli powder in the pressure cooker while cooking the daal. Another ingredient you can consider trying different quantity is tamarind. Control that, and you will get a different variation every time.

Another optional ingredient is jaggery. 1"-2" cube can be added to the above ingredient list and can be added to the mixture when you add the cooked vegetable to the daal.

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