NARTHANGAI SADAM | CITRON RICE RECIPE

• Rice – 1/2 cup ( I use steamed rice. You can use raw rice too)
• Water – 1.25 cups
• Gingely oil – 1 tsp
• Narthangai / citron fruit – 4 nos ( around 1/3 cup juice)
• Salt – as needed
• Asafetida/Hing – 1/8 tsp

To temper

• Gingely oil – 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Urad dal – 2 tsp
• Chana dal – 1 tbsp
• Red chillies  or Green chilli – 5-6 nos ( pinch into small pieces, use 6 if your chillies are less spicy)
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
• Asafetida/Hing – 1/8 tsp
• Curry leaves- few

• Wash & Pressure cook rice adding required water & a tsp of oil. Rice should be fluffy & separate. In a plate spread the rice adding little salt & a tsp of gingely oil. It helps the rice to separate when it cools down.

• Boil water in a pan & add the citron fruits/Narthangai( don’t cut it) to it. Let it boil for a minute. Then switch off the stove & remove the narthangai. It would become soft & now you can easily squeeze the juice using your hands. Take the juice from the fruit & strain the seeds. To this juice, add salt & hing. Set aside.

• In a kadai temper all the ingredients given under “ to temper” in the same order. Then add the extracted narthangai juice & switch off the flame immediately. Remove & keep in a bowl.

• Mix this juice with the cooked rice little by little. Add few tsp of gingely oil. Check for salt & adjust the taste.Yummy Narthangai sadam is ready to serve.

• I served with colorful fryums for my daughter & with narthangai pickle for us. It was yum!

• While squeezing the fruit, do not over do it because the juice will taste bitter if  you over squeeze it.
• Boiling narthangai in water is optional. But it helps to remove the bitterness on the skin & it helps for easy squeezing too.
• U can use combination of green chillies & red chillies while tempering. But my MIL used to say red chillies tastes the best for this rice. Here I used 2 byadgi chillies & 2 spicy chillies.
• U may not need all the juice for the rice. So add little by little & check for taste whenever needed.