Lemon rice (where have you been all my life?)

Back in February, I flew over to Stuttgart for the weekend, to hang out with Mariyah. It was on this trip that I realised how addicted I am to coffee ~~and the unbelievable heights of grumpiness brought on via caffeine deprivation~~ but let’s not talk about that. Instead let’s talk about the amazing experience of Ram making lemon rice for Sunday lunch. OMG, this was amazeballs. I don’t know why I hadn’t eaten it earlier.

But first some photos of the trip! The purpose of the visit was originally to just hang out with friends for the weekend. Oh, I got to go to the Stuttgart central library too, a place I always wanted to visit but never had. Crazy, considering that I used to stay just across the street on my work trips to Stuggi. I just never made it over.

Stuttgart Central Library: I have serious Bibliothek envy!

Friday lunch with Andreas.

He’s always trying to get me to eat Wurstsalat, so I ordered Schweineohren/pig’s ears. To my chagrin, he liked it. Eh.

Tofu with thousand year egg.

Back in my purple cubicle at Daimler, for a few hours.

This girl :D

Sunday brunch at Mariyah’s.

Spot what is missing from our brunch.

Yup. Coffee. (“I’ve never seen you this grumpy,” Mariyah said when we finally got to a Starbucks and I practically inhaled my Venti latte with extra shot in about thirty seconds.

We headed across town to visit Ram and Ulrike for Sunday lunch. The view out of their home across the hills and fields is beautiful, I miss hills, Berlin is ridiculously flat. Ram and Ulrike had prepared a delicious vegan lunch for us. Everything was so good, but really my favourites were the lemon rice and the dal.

Black bean hummus.

Herbed coconut rice.

Spiced oven aubergine.

My plate!

The goodness that is lemon rice!

When I returned to Berlin, I had to make lemon rice. After Googling around, there were multiple takes on lemon rice. Some included hing, some asked for urad dal, others for both urad and chana dal. I took the lowest common denominator recipe, relying on things I always have in the pantry and spice rack. (Yeah, I know, I’m lazy like that).

What you need for 4 servings

Cooked basmati rice, about 4 bowls
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1/2 cup raw peanuts
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon grated turmeric root or turmeric powder
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
the juice of 2 lemons
a pinch of hing
a handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Instructions

In a cast iron pan, heat the peanut oil and brown the peanuts over a low fire. Set aside.

Then, in the same cast iron pan, heat the vegetable oil and add the ginger, turmeric, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, lemon juice and hing. Stir fry till aromatic. Add the cooked rice and stir well.

Serve with the fresh chopped coriander and roasted peanuts.

Lemon rice is quite versatile. I like it with simple grilled vegetables for an easy weeknight dinner. I made a big batch of lemon rice one evening and brought the rest to work, where it was devoured by my colleagues.