Tangy Lemon Rice: Sharath Jois’ Recipe 

This recipe is form Sharath Jois’ book, Ageless: A Yogi’s Secret to A Long and Healthy Life. With his passing, I thought of honoring him by cooking one of his recipes and filming it to share: Tangy Lemon Rice.  

When it comes to cultures with healthy cooking or “blue zones” I find it surprising that Indian food is not considered one of the healthiest food, specially South Indian food. It ticks the boxes: fresh produce, lots of fruits and vegetables, beans, nuts, legumes, lentils—you name it. I’m guessing that it’s because India, as a county, is still considered underdeveloped and with a population fast reaching 1.5 billion, a good chunk of the population don’t have access to certain healthcare. But it’s unwise to overlook Indian food when it comes to health and longevity. Ayurveda and yoga have always linked health with food. I mean, India is the cradle of vegetarianism.  And when it comes to gut health, the ancient practices have always connected our gut with all aspect of physical and mental state. 

Before I started cooking Indian food twenty years ago after marrying my husband (he’s from India), I didn’t pay too much attention to digestion. Although I was already vegetarian when I met him, I didn’t realize the many flavorful dishes and new ingredients I could use. With Indian food, I started eating lentils daily. Using spices that I’ve never heard of before. You can add fruits and veggies to junk food and snack you can prepare at home! How about that.

When I visited India, I was impressed by the amount of fresh ingredients in their street food. Street vendors were constantly chopping, boiling, frying, and kneading. 

Indian Cooking in the West 

I had to modify the ingredients a bit, since I didn’t have readily available curry leaves and green chilis. I used dried curry leaves, which means that I actually cooked the leaves and not use it as a topping and also used jalapeños. Indian green chilis are not sold in regular stores around my area and only available in Asian stores. 

A note on spices: the original recipe calls for 4 green chilis per cup or cooked rice. That’s a bit spicy for me, so I toned this one down and use four of the chilis for 2 cups of rice. I also decreased the amount of oil. 

I love the taste of fried dals. They give a nice crunch to this tangly lemon rice recipe. When I make this at home, I usually add roasted peanuts and turmeric, but I wanted to stay as close to Sharath’s version. 

Last, the original recipe is for one cup of rice. That’s too little for me—ha! So I made it with two cups of rice and just doubled the rest of the ingredients. 

Tangy Lemon Rice

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Serves: 2 Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cooking Time: 15 Minutes 15 Minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 2 voted )

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked rice (I used brown basmati in this video)
• 3 tbs oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp chana dal
• 1/2 tsp urad dal
• 1/4 cup dried curry leaves
• 4 green chilis or jalapeños chopped
• 2 medium-sized onions chopped
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• coriander leaves to garnish
• salt ot taste

Instructions

1. Heat the oil and when hot, add mustard seeds. You’ll hear the sputtering when ready.
2. Add the dals and fry until slightly brown. Add the curry leaves and leave for a few seconds until they cook.
3. Add the onions, green chilis and cook until the onions are fully cooked and brown. This can take from 8-10 minutes. Stir occasionally. You can add a bit of salt to speed up the cooking.
4. Add rice and mix.
5. Turn off flame and stir in lemon juice and salt to taste.