Elumichampazha Sadam

Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine has come up with a great idea of featuring regional cuisine. Thanks to Lakshmi, this is my first try at South Indian cuisine. According to Wikipedia, "Rice is an important constituent of Tamil cuisine, there are a variety of rice preparations, and food items of rice are available for all the meals of the day. Lentils, too, are consumed extensively, either accompanying rice preparations, or in the form of independent food preparations of lentils." Hence I decided to try a rice dish combined with lentils.

Elumichampazha Sadam, my entry for RCI-Tamil Cuisine Event, is rice (called "Sadam" in Tamil) cooked with Urad Dal, Chana Dal and Peanuts. Elumichampazha (Tamil word for "Lemon") is another important ingredient for this recipe and hence this dish is also known as Lemon Rice.

Elumichampazha Sadam (Lemon Rice)



What you need:

1 cup Basmati Rice

4-5 Curry Leaves
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds
A pinch of Asafoetida
2 tbsp Chana Dal
2 tbsp Urad Dal
3 Green chillies, chopped
½ inch Ginger, chopped
3-4 tbsp Peanuts, roasted and de-skinned
1 tsp Turmeric powder

Oil
Salt to taste
Juice of 1 big Lemon
Few coriander leaves, chopped

How to proceed:

1) Wash and soak the rice for 10 mins.
2) Boil the rice in 3-4 cups of water and set aside. In order to obtain separate grains, do not overcook the rice and drain off excess water and leave aside.
3) Wash chana dal and urad dal and set aside
4) Heat the oil in a cooking pan, add curry leaves, mustard seeds, asafoetida and cumin seeds.
5) When mustard seeds splutter, add urad dal, chana dal, chopped green chillies, ginger and peanuts.
6) Fry till peanuts change color and add turmeric.
7) Add the rice, mix well and add salt.
8) Remove from gas, add the lemon juice and garnish with coriander.
9) Serve hot with yogurt (optional).