Chitranna (), also known as Lemon rice, is a rice-based dish widely prepared in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

. It is prepared by mixing cooked rice with a special seasoning called ''Oggarane'' or ''Gojju''. Characteristic for the seasoning are

mustard seed Mustard seeds are the small round seeds of various mustard plants. The seeds are usually about in diameter and may be colored from yellowish white to black. They are an important spice in many regional foods and may come from one of three diff ...

s, fried

lentil The lentil (''Vicia lens'' or ''Lens culinaris'') is an annual plant, annual legume grown for its Lens (geometry), lens-shaped edible seeds or ''pulses'', also called ''lentils''. It is about tall, and the seeds grow in Legume, pods, usually w ...

peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics by small and large ...

curry leaves Curry is a dish with a sauce or gravy seasoned with spices, mainly derived from the interchange of Indian cuisine with European taste in food, starting with the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and British, and then thoroughly internation ...

, chillies,

lemon juice The lemon (''Citrus'' × ''limon'') is a species of small evergreen tree in the ''Citrus'' genus of the flowering plant family Rutaceae. A true lemon is a hybrid of the citron and the bitter orange. Its origins are uncertain, but some ...

and other optional items such as scrapes of unripe

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

. Added

turmeric Turmeric (), or ''Curcuma longa'' (), is a flowering plant in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. It is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that requires temperatures between and high ...

powder gives Chitranna its yellow color.

Garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

and

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

s are also used in the seasoning by some, although traditionally they do not form part of the recipe. The dish is especially popular in the south Indian state of

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

, where it has become a part of the daily diet.

History

Chitranna rice dish finds its mention in medieval Indian cookbooks

Manasollasa The ' also known as ''Abhilashitartha Chintamani'', is an early 12th-century Sanskrit text composed by the Kalyani Chalukya king Someshvara III, who ruled in present-day Karnataka. It is an encyclopedic work covering topics such as polity, gove ...

(1130 CE) and Pakadarpana (1200 CE) as "''Chitrapaka''".The 'Pāka darpaṇam': The text on Indian cookery - https://www.ancientscienceoflife.org/article.asp?issn=0257-7941;year=2014;volume=33;issue=4;spage=259;epage=262;aulast=Kodlady

Varieties

Depending on the ingredients, various types of Chitranna can be prepared: * ''Nimbehannu Chitranna'' () : This is the famous 'Lemon Rice' prepared by mixing cooked rice with

and

* ''Eerulli Chitranna'' () : Onion Chitranna; Fried onion, mustard seeds, split chickpeas and green chillies are mixed with cooked rice * ''Mavinakayi Chitranna'' () : Mango Chitranna; Raw, unripe mango is ground into a paste and mixed with cooked rice * ''Kayi-Sasive Chitranna'' () : Grated coconut and mustard seeds are ground into a paste and mixed with cooked rice * ''Heralekayi Chitranna'' () : This is made by using Citron Lime and rice.

References

Indian rice dishes South Indian cuisine Karnataka cuisine {{India-cuisine-stub

History

Varieties

See also

References