NARTHANGAI SADAM | CITRON RICE RECIPE

I am a big big fan of Narthangai(Citron fruits in English). Narthangai has amazing health benefits. My MIL used to say Narthangai helps to cure 108 diseases. I am not sure how far it is true. But I know its very helpful for pitha troubles & indigestion which I have experienced it.

Before marriage I used to get narthangai pickle from my Aachi in Tirunelveli. I can have a plateful of rice with it. I was thinking that pickle alone can be made with narthangai. But after marriage, when I tasted Narthangai pachadi from my MIL’s hands, I loved it more than pickle.

Recently we had a trip to Kumbakonam. Sendhil’s maami gave us a bag full of citron fruits/Narthangai from their backyard. We prepared pachadi with almost 3/4th of the quantity and made this rice with the remaining. It tastes very similar to lemon rice. Sendhil love this a lot. Its one of the yummiest Narthangai recipes. Today I made this rice for his lunch box. and now it has become my favourite too. You can serve this yummy rice variety with fryums, chips, vadam & pickle. I know all your eyes goes to those colorful fryums, right ??

I bought them in a small shop in Lee bazaar, Salem just by seeing its different shapes & color.

Ok, Lets see how to make this flavourful, yummy narthangai sadam. Here is a picture of narthangai/citron fruit for your reference.

Narthangai sadam recipe

Delicious rice variety using citron fruits/Narthangai – Tastes similar to lemon rice

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Lunch

Serves: Serves 3

Prep time: 5 Minutes

Cook time: 20 Minutes

Total time: 25 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

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

METHOD

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!

Note

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.

Serve this yummy rice with fryums, vadam & pickle.