Lemon Rice with Garbanzo beans

Lemon Rice is a classic recipe from South of India that many relish. It is the poor man's diet because all you need is lemons, rice and salt/turmeric, and is thecommon choice for "Annadanam" (Food charity) efforts in temples because of its simplicity. 

During my pregnancy, due to gestational diabetes, I had to restrict myself from eating too much rice. However in many of the festivities, mixed rice (lemon rice) was a common recipe, that I would tend to take no more than one morsel. There is a rise of Diabetes in India and many are going towards low rice and more protein (whole beans/lentil) diet.

So, I thought I will experiment with the lemon rice recipe and make a protein rich alternative, especially for the health conscious folks like me out there. The magic ingredient that I added to Lemon Rice is cooked garbanzo beans (Kondakadalai). The dish retained its signature taste of lemon rice and yet provided the needed protein to the diet in one serving.

Lemon Rice with cooked garbanzo beans (Kondakadalai)
Ingredients
Cooked Rice (can use brown rice): 3 cups
Cooked Garbanzo beans - 2 cups
Lime/Lemon (medium size) - 2
Peanuts - 1/2 cup
Chopped Cilantro leaves - 1/2 cup
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Black gram seeds (Urad dal) - 1 tbsp
Yellow split pea (Chana dal) - 1 tbsp
Green chillies - 2-3
Ginger - 1 tsp (grated)
Refined oil - 3-4 tbsp
Curry leaves - 5-6 leaves
Turmeric - 3 tsp
Salt - as needed

Directions
Cooked the rice and garbanzo beans separately in pressure cooker until well cooked and soft.
Garbanzo beans needs to be soaked overnight before cooking them and cook it with salt and 2 tsp turmeric. You can also use the canned garbanzo beans directly in dish. Heat 1-2 tbsp oil and roast the peanuts and keep them aside. Add the rest of oil in a heavy pan and add mustard seeds, chana and urad dal. Once the mustard seeds sputter, add curry leaves, green chillies (chop these long so we can pick them out) and ginger, 1 tsp of turmeric and salt. Add the roasted peanuts, cooked garbanzo beans and rice and mix it well. Squeeze the lemon and mix well at the end. Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro leaves. and serve it hot. It can be eaten alone or with fritters.

The aroma of the lemon comes through when you squeeze it fresh on top after the entire rice is mixed. If you add it in with oil before adding rice, it looses its potency. Lemon is a great antioxidant (has a high percentage of ascorbic acid that is heat labile). Hence it is often recommended to add at the end of the batch right before packing. Similarly, we should add it at the end right before garnishing on the rice and when the heat is off.

The dish was excellent in that it provided the tangy taste of lemon rice and yet had the added protein and fiber from whole garbanzo beans.