Capsicum - Lime Rice

Rice always takes the central stage in a traditional, South Indian kitchen. Especially on a festive day, an elaborate and delicious rice dish is a must in most of the homes there. When there are ten other things to savor on a festive day and thousand other things to wreck our brains, I feel a simple rice dish would be sensible enough to suffice the need.
Even simple lemon rice becomes special if only prepared on certain occasions and not every time you have that leftover rice. My mother followed the same principle and so for us to this day, lemon rice is something to celebrate. To make it more special, I had borrowed the idea from Karnataka cuisine - the addition of capsicum to the classic Nimbe hannina chitranna (Lemon / Lime rice) and present this capsicum - lime rice today.

Ingredients for 6 - 8 servings:
2 cups rice, preferably sona masuri
1 cup capsicum - Deseeded and chopped finely
6 - 7 tbsp lime / lemon juice or to taste
Salt to taste
2 red chillies, broken into bits + 6 finely chopped green chillies
For tadka: 4 - 6 Tbsp oil, a handful of peanuts, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 Tbsp chana dal, 1 Tbsp urad dal, few curry leaves, 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, a pinch of asafoetida powder (optional)

Method:
* Wash the rice and drain. Add 4 cups of water and cook in a pressure cooker.
* Heat the oil in a kadai or a deep-bottomed pan and add all the tadka ingredients (except the turmeric and asafoetida) in the order mentioned. When they start to splutter and the dals turn reddish, add the chillies and fry for a few seconds. Then add the capsicum, turmeric and asafoetida. Cover and cook on low flame. It would take around 5 minutes for the capsicum to cook. Turn off the stove.
* Now add the cooked rice, salt and limejuice to the pan and mix well. Taste and adjust the salt & limejuice levels if needed.  Remember that the salt & sourness levels decrease after the resting period during which the rice would have absorbed the flavors. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes before serving. 
* Serve with papad.


                            Capsicum - Lime Rice with papad

This goes to
Priya's Complete my thali - Rice, an event by Jagruthi.
Preeti's Only Festive Food, an event started by Pari.

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