………..you make Lemon rice
Month of October always brings the memories of festival of Dasara. I grew up in city of Mysore which is well known for its Dasara celebrations. The Dasara festival represents the winning of good over evil and in Mysore the legend is that this is the day Goddess Chanmundi killed the demon Mahishasura. Dasara is a 10 day festival and the last day of the festival is Vijayadashmi (Vijaya : Winning/ winner and Dashmi is : 10th day of lunar cycle). On vijayadashmi, in Myosre, we have the yearly tradition and it is known for its elephants, the parade and whole grandeur of the festivities. I still remember when Dad took me and my siblings to watch the parade and it was the whole day affair. The Mysore palace is lighted up for all the 10 days and the parade stars at the Palace. Mysore used to be the capital of Wodeyar dynasty and till date, the festivities start with the royal family performing special offerings (puja) at the chanmundi temple on the chamundi hills and holding the court at the Mysore palace. Here is a nice blog that has lot of pictures from the Dasara parade of Mysore. : Bangalore View: Mysore Dasara 2008.
Other days of Dasara include the Ayudha Pooja (worship of the weapons) which is celebrated on the 9th day. According to Hindu mythology, this was the day, when Arjuna retrieved his weapons from the Shami tree (Banni tree ) and went to war with Kauravas. In the present time, we celebrate this symbolically by performing pooja of all our weapons or tools of the trade such as knives and the automobiles. All the tools and the automobiles are cleaned and decorated with flowers, banana leaves and turmeric. A few thousand lemons and pumpkins (filled with Kumkum-red dye as symbol of blood) are scarified on this day as part of the offering to the tools and automobiles. Here is link to the blog that talks about this festival : http://melissaenderle.blogspot.com/2008/10/ayudha-puja.html
So in memory of all the Lemons that get scarified on Aydha puja, I decided to sacrifice my own and make Lemon rice J
Ingredients:
Cooked Rice : 1 cup
Coconut : ¼ cupGreen Chilies : 4-6
Mustard seeds : 1 TSP
Lemon : 1 medium sized 
For Tadka,
Oil :1 tsp
Mustard : 1 tsp
Urad dal (black gram)
Channa Dhal (green gram)
Peanuts 1 TSP
Turmeric : a Pinch
Curry leaves : 2-3
Preparation method:
Method 1 : Heat the oil and add mustard seeds. Let them splutter before adding peanut, Urad and channa dal. Roast for couple of minutes and add turmeric and curry leaves. Take of from the stove and let it cool.
Blend coconut, mustard, green chilies into a smooth paste in a grinder and add this paste to the Tadka (from step 1). Add salt to taste. Mix the cooked rice and lemon juice to the tadka. I prefer to mix by hand to get a better mix and hence I cool everything before I start mixing. You can add coriander leaves ( cilantro ) as garnish if you like.
This is the typical way the Lemon Rice is done for the festival dinner/lunch
Method 2 : Second method of making Lemon rice is to add cut onions (One medium sized onion) to the tadka (Step 1) and sauté till brown. In this method you can skip adding the ground paste (Step 2) and directly add cooked rice and lemon juice and mix well. You can garnish with Cilantro and coconut if you like. This type of Lemon rice is made for breakfast when mom wants to use up the extra rice from night before.
Did you know ?
Lemon juice is rich in Vitamin C . Lemon is used as a cure for Scurvy- a disease caused due to Vitamin C. British sailors used to carry Lemon with them when going on long trip on the ship and hence earning the nickname Limey!
Mane Maddu (Home remedies)
Lemon is one of the most useful fruit you can find in your kitchen. I was looking through mom's book for lemon and I found about 3 pages worth of home remedies. Here are some common ones:
Mustard seeds : 1 TSP
For Tadka,
Oil :1 tsp
Mustard : 1 tsp
Urad dal (black gram)
Channa Dhal (green gram)
Peanuts 1 TSP
Turmeric : a Pinch
Curry leaves : 2-3
Preparation method:
Method 1 : Heat the oil and add mustard seeds. Let them splutter before adding peanut, Urad and channa dal. Roast for couple of minutes and add turmeric and curry leaves. Take of from the stove and let it cool.
Blend coconut, mustard, green chilies into a smooth paste in a grinder and add this paste to the Tadka (from step 1). Add salt to taste. Mix the cooked rice and lemon juice to the tadka. I prefer to mix by hand to get a better mix and hence I cool everything before I start mixing. You can add coriander leaves ( cilantro ) as garnish if you like.
This is the typical way the Lemon Rice is done for the festival dinner/lunch
Method 2 : Second method of making Lemon rice is to add cut onions (One medium sized onion) to the tadka (Step 1) and sauté till brown. In this method you can skip adding the ground paste (Step 2) and directly add cooked rice and lemon juice and mix well. You can garnish with Cilantro and coconut if you like. This type of Lemon rice is made for breakfast when mom wants to use up the extra rice from night before.
Did you know ?
Lemon juice is rich in Vitamin C . Lemon is used as a cure for Scurvy- a disease caused due to Vitamin C. British sailors used to carry Lemon with them when going on long trip on the ship and hence earning the nickname Limey!
Mane Maddu (Home remedies)
Lemon is one of the most useful fruit you can find in your kitchen. I was looking through mom's book for lemon and I found about 3 pages worth of home remedies. Here are some common ones:
- Equal parts of Lemon Juice and honey (1 tsp each) mixed well is a good remedy for nausea.
- 1 tsp Lemon juice and pinch of Sodium bicarb can be used as a cure for indigestion. In general adding few drops of lemon juice to water and drinking it helps with digestion.
- Lemon Juice with water is a good coolant (Hence Lemonade is a popular drink in summer months)
- Lemon juice is beneficial for people with kidney stones ( For more info : http://www.uwhealth.org/files/uwhealth/docs/pdf/kidney_citric_acid.pdf)
- Lemon juice is used to cure dandruff. Rubbing lemon juice on the scalp and leaving it couple of hours and then washing it takes care of dandruff and apparently makes the hair shine too.
