South Indian Lemon Rice, or Chitranna, is a tangy, flavorful, and simple rice dish made with cooked rice, fresh lemon juice, coriander leaves, and a tempering of aromatic spices. This recipe is inspired by temple-style chitranna popular in Coastal Karnataka. This vegan lemon rice is easy to prepare and a great option for a quick meal or lunchbox.
Check out our leftover rice fritters, South Indian breakfast recipes, and vegetarian lunch and dinner recipes.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- Ready in less than 30 minutes, and with pre-cooked or leftover rice, you can make it in 10 minutes.
- Excellent lunchbox or tiffin box recipe.
- No onion, no garlic, making it perfect for fasting, vrat, and upvas days.
- Traditional and authentic Karnataka-style tempering. Perfect for any meal.
- Make it on the stovetop or in an Instant Pot.
What is Chitranna?
Lemon rice, also known as nimbe hannina chitranna, nimmakaya pulihora, chitrannam, elumichai sadam, is a popular rice recipe from South India where the tempering made using herbs, spices, and nuts along with lemon juice is tossed with the steamed rice, making it spicy, tangy, and aromatic with a nutty flavor and highly addictive. This tempering is called oggarane or gojju in Kannada.
To make this Karnataka-style, you don't need any spoon or cup measurements. You can adjust the ingredients to your taste. If you are a bachelor or a beginner, this is one of the best recipes to try. Overall, the crunchiness of lentils (chana dal and urad dal), cashew nuts, and peanuts; the spiciness of green and red chilies; and the flavor of asafoetida, ginger, and lemon make this rice simply irresistible.
We usually make this lemon rice whenever we have leftover rice at home. You can prepare this dish for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Since it travels well, it is also great for lunchboxes, potlucks, or picnics. Chitranna can be served alone, but it also tastes great with roasted potatoes or any namkeens.
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Temple-style Chitranna
This rice dish has several variations. But temple-style chitranna (lemon rice) is by far my favorite, and today I am going to share the recipe for temple-style chitranna. This is very popular in Mangalore, Udupi, and the Karkala region of Karnataka. One of the best recipes to offer as prasad and naivedyam for the Varalakshmi festival, Navratari, and Gowri Ganesha festival. Other variations include adding onions, lemon pepper rice (another temple style), raw mango (mavinkayi chitranna), or grated coconut.
Stovetop at home and firewood in temples are the most preferred ways to make chitranna. But I have also tried making one-pot lemon rice in an Instant Pot. The taste differs from the traditional method, but if you are looking for a one-pot meal, do it in your Instant Pot.
While you are here, also check out no-onion, no-garlic rice recipes you can make during the 9 days of the Navaratri festival and serve as prasadam and naivedyam. Rice kheer, Curd Rice (Mosaranna), Ghee rice, Puliyogare(pulihora), Coconut Rice, Jaggery Rice, Gudanna.
Ingredients
Rice: Any non-sticky rice will work for this recipe—short grain rice, basmati rice, jasmine rice, etc. Aged rice is always better, as it will prevent your rice from turning mushy.
Lemon juice: Always use fresh lemon juice or lime juice while making this dish. Bottled juice will not taste good.
Spices: Use mustard seeds, green chilies, and ginger. You can even use red chilies.
Lentils: For crunch, use urad dal and chana dal.
Nuts: Peanuts and cashews are most commonly used for additional crunch.
Herbs: Curry leaves and coriander leaves or cilantro.
Turmeric powder: Used for the traditional color.
Check out the recipe card for the full list of ingredients.
Rice for Chitranna
Cook the rice on the stovetop.
- Nicely wash and rinse the rice.
- Bring 3 to 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the washed rice and cook on medium flame for 15 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through.
- Drain and keep it aside.
- Once it comes to room temperature, use a fork to separate the grains.
Leftover rice
You can use any leftover rice to make this chitranna. 1 cup uncooked rice makes 3 cups cooked rice. Cooled, precooked, or leftover rice also works best, as it prevents the dish from turning mushy and the grains remain separate when tossed with tempering.
How to make Lemon rice?
- Heat oil in a pan or kadai on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium-low and add mustard seeds.
- When it splutters, add urad dal, chana dal, hing, and turmeric powder, and sauté until the turmeric rawness goes off and the dal turns light golden.
- Add peanuts, cashews, red chili, green chili, ginger, and curry leaves, and sauté until the peanuts and cashews are roasted.
- Add the rice, coriander leaves, lemon juice, and salt (as needed), then toss to combine.
- Serve and enjoy.
Instant pot lemon rice
- Wash and drain the rice, then set aside.
- Press the SAUTE button on your instant pot. Once hot, add oil to the inner pot.
- Add mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal, hing, turmeric powder, and sauté until the rawness goes off.
- Add peanuts, cashews, red chile, green chile, ginger, and curry leaves, and sauté until the peanuts and cashews are roasted. At this point,, you can either transfer this tempering aside and toss it in later or continue cooking with it.
- Pour in 1 ¼ cup water, add salt to taste, and deglaze by scraping the bottom of the pot with a spatula. Press the CANCEL button.
- Add washed and drained rice; mix well.
- Close the lid with the vent in the sealing position. Press the Pressure Cook button and set the time to 5 minutes.
- Once done. let the pressure release naturally for 7 to 8 minutes. Then release any remaining pressure manually.
- Open the lid of your IP, remove the inner pot, and set it aside.
- When the temperature comes down a bit, add lemon juice and cilantro, and mix until combined. Serve and enjoy.
Expert tips
- Vary all the ingredients as per your preference. Some are optional and can be skipped without affecting the taste.
- Rice - Make sure the rice is non-sticky, not mushy. If you overcook the rice by mistake, let it cool completely, break up the lumps, then add it to the tempering. If you have leftover day-old rice, use 3 cups.
- The rice-to-water ratio varies depending on the brand of rice used.
- You may use asafoetida powder(hing) or asafoetida dissolved in water. If adding in dissolved form, add it at the end of tempering. You may also skip this for a gluten-free version.
Variations
- Mavinkayi Chitranna: made with seasonal raw mangoes.
- Chipotle Lime Rice: cilantro and lemon juice are the only ingredients used.
- Lemon Pepper Rice: another GSB temple-style recipe where peppercorns are added to bring the heat.
- Eerulli Chitranna: In Karnataka, even onions are sautéed with tempering and added. This gives the rice a unique taste. This version will remain only for 1 day.
- Lemon mint rice: Add a handful of mint leaves for a unique taste and flavor.
Serving suggestions
- Lemon rice tastes good on its own. But you can also serve it with namkeens like papad, sandige, yogurt salad, pickle, and chutneys.
- This is a very good recipe for your lunchbox or tiffin box, as it tastes great even at room temperature.
Make ahead and Store
- Lemon rice tastes good the day it is made. If you have leftovers, store them in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Reheat in the microwave for 15 seconds, or sprinkle some water and heat on the stovetop for 5 to 10 minutes.
- If you add onions to the rice, I would not recommend storing it. Finish it the same day.
Recipe FAQs
The name Chitranna comes from a Sanskrit word where chitra means colorful, and anna means rice. The bright yellow color comes from the turmeric mixed with seasoning.
No. Both are south indian rice dishes, but chitranna is made with lemon as the key ingredient, and pulihora is a tamarind-based rice recipe.
This style of chitrannam will last up to 8 hours at room temperature and 2 days in the refrigerator.
You can use any non-mushy, non-sticky white rice to prepare lemon rice. Aged rice works best because it stays non-mushy. Some of our choices for fluffy chitranna are short grain rice, basmati, jeera rice, and jasmine rice.
Leftover rice is one of the best choices because the grains are separated, it's not mushy, and you can make a fluffy chitranna when tossed with tempering.
More south Indian rice recipes
Recipe card
Lemon Rice Recipe | Chitranna
Equipment
- 2 Pans
Ingredients
- 1 cup Uncooked Basmati Rice 3 cups cooked or leftover rice
- 2 tablespoon Coconut Oil Canola Oil / Vegetable Oil
- 1 teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- 1 teaspoon Urad dal
- 1 tablespoon Chana Dal optional
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- A pinch Asafoetida Hing, optional
- ¼ cup Peanuts
- 10 to 15 Cashews
- 1 Dry red chili broken optional
- 2 Green chiles chopped
- 1 tablespoon Ginger chopped
- 10 Curry leaves or approx 1 sprig
- ¼ cup Coriander leaves Cilantro chopped
- 2 tablespoon Lemon juice adjust as per taste
- ½ teaspoon Salt adjust to taste
Instructions
Cook the rice on the stovetop
- Nicely wash and rinse the rice.1 cup Uncooked Basmati Rice
- Bring 3 to 4 cups of water to a boil. Add the washed rice and cook on medium flame for 15 minutes, or until the rice is cooked through.
- Drain and keep it aside.
- Once it comes to room temperature, use a fork to separate the grains.
Leftover rice
- You can use any leftover rice to make this chitranna. 1 cup uncooked rice makes 3 cups cooked rice. Cooled, precooked, or leftover rice also works best, as it prevents the dish from turning mushy and the grains remain separate when tossed with tempering.
How to make lemon rice?
- Heat oil in a pan or kadai on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium-low and add mustard seeds.2 tbsp Coconut Oil , 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- When it splutters, add urad dal, chana dal, hing, and turmeric powder, and sauté until the turmeric rawness goes off and the dal turns light golden.1 tsp Urad dal, 1 tbsp Chana Dal, ½ tsp Turmeric powder, A pinch Asafoetida
- Add peanuts, cashews, red chili, green chili, ginger, and curry leaves, and sauté until the peanuts and cashews are roasted.¼ cup Peanuts, 10 to 15 Cashews , 1 Dry red chili broken, 2 Green chiles, 1 tbsp Ginger, 10 Curry leaves
- Add the rice, coriander leaves, lemon juice, and salt (as needed), then toss to combine.¼ cup Coriander leaves, 2 tbsp Lemon juice, ½ tsp Salt
- Serve and enjoy.
Instant pot lemon rice
- Wash and drain the rice, then set aside.
- Press the SAUTE button on your instant pot. Once hot, add oil to the inner pot.
- Add mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal, hing, turmeric powder, and sauté until the rawness goes off.
- Add peanuts, cashews, red chile, green chile, ginger, and curry leaves, and sauté until the peanuts and cashews are roasted. At this point,, you can either transfer this tempering aside and toss it in later or continue cooking with it.
- Pour in 1 ¼ cup water, add salt to taste, and deglaze by scraping the bottom of the pot with a spatula. Press the CANCEL button.
- Add washed and drained rice; mix well.
- Close the lid with the vent in the sealing position. Press the Pressure Cook button and set the time to 5 minutes.
- Once done. let the pressure release naturally for 7 to 8 minutes. Then release any remaining pressure manually.
- Open the lid of your IP, remove the inner pot, and set it aside.
- When the temperature comes down a bit, add lemon juice and cilantro, and mix until combined. Serve and enjoy.
Video
Notes
- Adjust the ingredients to your preference. Some are optional and can be skipped without affecting the taste.
- Rice - Make sure the rice is not sticky or mushy. If you overcook the rice by mistake, let it cool completely, break up the lumps, then add it to the tempering. If you have leftover day-old rice, use 3 cups.
- The rice-to-water ratio varies by rice brand.
- You may use asafoetida powder(hing) or asafoetida dissolved in water. If adding in dissolved form, add it at the end of tempering. You may also skip this for a gluten-free version.
Nutrition
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Note: We originally posted this Karnataka style chitranna in Sept 2019. It has now been modified in August 2026 with Expert Chef Tips, FAQs, Storage Instructions, etc.
Diana Reis says
This rice is amazing. Great depth of flavor and a nice punch from an otherwise common side dish.
Sharon says
Lemon and rice go perfectly together but then you add the chilies and you have a winning side dish!
justswad says
nice recipe with great explanation. thanks for sharing. https://justswad.com/