Sluttishly Savoury: Spiced Lemon Rice

Rice is my comfort food. I could eat rice all day, every day if I could. And sometimes I do. When I was travelling in Southeast Asia I was more than happy on my rice diet and after years addicted to the delicious and nutritious grain, I am still coming up with new ways to enjoy my comfort food.

This Spiced Lemon rice is a variation of a recipe I found on the BBC website and, of course, I have been tinkering around it. It is ideal served with a simple grilled garlic chicken breast or some marinated lamb. The peanuts add a welcome contrast to the deep spicy flavour and the lemon gives it a lovely lift. 

Spiced Lemon Rice (serves two)

You will need:

• Large handful of peanuts
• 2 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds
• 1tsp Dried Chilli Flakes
• 1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1/3 tsp Turmeric
• 1 tbsp Torn Curry Leaves
• Pinch of Sea Salt
• 1 lemon, juice only
• 300g Cooked Rice, cooled slightly

Make it!

1. Heat an empty frying pan on a medium heat and dry fry the peanuts. Give them a good shake every minute or so until they are golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Heat the oil at a medium to high heat and add the mustard seeds and chilli flakes. When the seeds begin to pop add the ground ginger, turmeric, curry leaves, peanuts and salt. Stir for 30 seconds and add the lemon juice.
3. Give the lemon juice a minute to heat through before adding the cooked rice to the pan. Stir well and reduce the heat to medium. Allow the rice to heat through before serving.
4. Optional - add a further squeeze of lemon over the rice before serving, to taste.