Lemon Sevai – vegan and gluten-free lemon flavored Instant Rice Vermicelli recipe with instant store-bought sevai mix.
This recipe is perfect for those days when the time is pressing or when you want a light yet delicious meal. You can prepare this sevai for any meal, be it breakfast, lunch, evening tiffin or dinner even. Now let’s learn how to make this elumichai sevai or lemon vermicelli with step by step pictures and some tips to get perfect sevai.
Happy Tamil New Year wishes to all my readers. :-) Glad to share this lemon recipe, a no onion no garlic one on this festive day. Homemade sevai with the traditional Naazhi is always fun, and there is no doubt that homemade rocks. But it is time-consuming as well. But opting for semihomemade recipes like this doesn’t harm either. In fact, on busy, it makes our life easy.
I have already explained about sevai and idiyappam in detail in my Homemade Sevai post. So I am not going to repeat that. And for folks, who wanted to try making sevai from scratch, please refer to that post. For this recipe, I went with store bought rice vermicelli. But these days I see millet vermicellis, and I have tried them as well. You can opt for either one.
The lemon sevai recipe is straightforward. All you have to do is cook the sevai as per the package instructions and when done, do the tempering and add lemon juice. I always use coconut oil for lemon rice and sevai. It adds a unique flavor to this recipe. You can make coconut flavored sevai, masala sevai and what not? Lemon rice is one of our favorite lunch box recipes, so with sevai also, I make the same.
PS: I was chasing the sunlight. So right after mixing (that too in a hurry) the sevai I did not allow it cool and hurried to click the picture. You can find some sticky vermicellis but as it cooled down it was ok.
Now let me share how to make this lemon sevai with you.
Lemon Sevai or Instant Rice Vermicelli Recipe
Ingredients:
- Instant Rice vermicelli – 100 g
- Water – 4 cups
- Sesame Oil – 1 tsp
- Salt – ¾ tsp + ¼ tsp
- Coconut Oil – 2 tsps
- Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
- Urad Dal – 1 tsp
- Channa Dal – 1 tsp
- Chopped Cilantro – 1 tbsp
- Curry leaves – 5 to 6
- Green Chilli – 2
- Lemon Juice – Half of the medium sized lemon or 3 tbsps (see notes for the lemon variety)
- Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
- Hing – ¼ tsp
Steps:
Instant Rice Vermicelli Preparation:
- Cook the sevai as per the package instructions and this is what I did.
- Bring 4 cups of water to boil by adding ¼ tsp of salt and one tsp of sesame oil.
- When the water boils, turn off the heat, add the vermicelli and cover the pot with a lid and let it sit for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Then drain the water and sprinkle some cold water on top and set it aside. Make sure you remove the water thoroughly.
Tempering:
- Heat a pan or kadai and add coconut oil.
- When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, hing, curry leaves and green chili.
- Then add the salt and turmeric powder and stir it before adding the cooked sevai.
- Now reduce the heat to low, and add the cooked sevai and gently mix it.
- Turn the heat off and add the lemon juice and mix again gently.
- Finally, garnish it with chopped cilantro and serve hot with chutney or sugar.
Notes:
- Adding a little bit of oil while cooking the sevai helps in non-sticky sevai.
- If there is moisture content in sevai, then it will stick. I know its tricky but make sure that you drain the water as much as you can.
- Mixing the sevai over low heat and gently helps for non-sticky sevai. I was hurrying this time and you can see a lot of small sevai pieces and that got to stick together.
- I always add salt and turmeric powder before adding the vermicelli and mix it in oil.
- Adjust the salt and spices as per your preference.
- Coming to lemons, every lemon variety is different. If using Meyer lemons, you might have to add one entire lemon to get that tangy flavor. So try tasting a drop of lemon juice and then depending upon the tanginess, you can add.
- Instead of coconut oil, you can use any regular oil.
Enjoying Lemon Sevai or Instant Rice Vermicelli? You will love these, too:
- Idiyappam and Vegetable Stew
- Semiya Payasam | Semi-Homemade Vermicelli Kheer with Evaporated and Condensed Milk
- Semiya Biryani | Vermicelli Puloa/Pulav
- Easy Semiya Upma | Vermicelli Upma Recipe with Coconut
Have you made made this recipe?
If you’ve made this instant lemon sevai recipe, please share your photos with me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or Twitter – I will be delighted to see your results!
📖 Recipe
Lemon Sevai | Lemon Flavored Instant Rice Vermicelli
Ingredients
- 100 g Instant rice vermicelli
- 4 cups Water
- 1 tsp Sesame Oil
- ¼ tsp Salt - ¾ tsp
- 2 tsps Coconut Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1 tsp Urad Dal
- 1 tsp Channa Dal
- 1 tbsp Chopped Cilantro
- 5 Curry leaves or 6
- 2 Green Chilli
- 3 tbsps Lemon Juice or half the medium-sized lemon - see notes for the lemon variety
- ½ tsp Turmeric Powder
- ¼ tsp Hing
Instructions
Steps:
Instant Rice Vermicelli Preparation:
- Cook the sevai as per the package instructions and this is what I did.
- Bring 4 cups of water to boil by adding ¼ tsp of salt and one tsp of sesame oil.
- When the water boils, turn off the heat, add the vermicelli and cover the pot with a lid and let it sit for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Then drain the water and sprinkle some cold water on top and set it aside. Make sure you remove the water thoroughly.
Tempering:
- Heat a pan or kadai and add coconut oil.
- When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, hing, curry leaves and green chili.
- Then add the salt and turmeric powder and stir it before adding the cooked sevai.
- Now reduce the heat to low, and add the cooked sevai and gently mix it.
- Turn the heat off and add the lemon juice and mix again gently.
- Finally, garnish it with chopped cilantro and serve hot with chutney or sugar.
Notes
- Adding a little bit of oil while cooking the sevai helps in non-sticky sevai.
- If there is moisture content in sevai, then it will stick. I know its tricky but make sure that you drain the water as much as you can.
- Mixing the sevai over low heat and gently helps for non-sticky sevai. I was hurrying this time and you can see a lot of small sevai pieces and that got to stick together.
- I always add salt and turmeric powder before adding the vermicelli and mix it in oil.
- Adjust the salt and spices as per your preference.
- Coming to lemons, every lemon variety is different. If using Meyer lemons, you might have to add one entire lemon to get that tangy flavor. So try tasting a drop of lemon juice and then depending upon the tanginess, you can add.
- Instead of coconut oil, you can use any regular oil.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
I never made lemon flavored sewai at home.. Always tried in restaurant.. looks so inviting and tasty.. bookmark.
Thanks
I never made lemon flavored sewai at home.. Always tried in restaurant.. looks so inviting.. bookmark.
Simple and fuss-free sevai.
Never used coconut or sesame oils for making sevais. Must add interesting flavors.
It adds flavor and also helps in non-sticky sevai.
Lemon sevai is one of my favorite sevai dish and you have made is just the way I do. I know sometimes they tend to stick but all is better once they cool down.
Thanks :-)
This is one of my favorite to pack for lunch boxes. I personally like the thengai sevai, but lemon sevai seems to work well for lunch boxes.
Thanks Sandhya. I like the coconut one too.
This is a family favorite Srividhya! There was a time when mom and I used to make this at home using the nazhli. So nostalgic reading your post.
Making fresh sevai using nazhi is always fun na… Glad you enjoyed the post-PJ.
We love sevai, lemon and coconut are
Our favorites! I agree that homemade sevai rocks, but then in our busy morning routines, such instant ones such a blessing! That is one yumm box there !! ❤️
Thanks, Priya. At times we need to opt the semi-homemade ones.
Now that I have the confidence to make sevai at home, will be trying out this delicious looking lemon sevai. As bloggers what we have to do to click photos ;)
ha ha true.
Sevai surely looks amazing and lol on chasing sun. I never bother about that as i always in the late evening after returning from work. So mine is all artificial ?
Luckily because of the daylight savings, we have light until 8PM. So I am able to chase. ;-) During winter it is difficult though.
millet sevais have suddenly enveloped the market isnt it ?its a rage here too, and I keep makign them, much to my kid’s dislike :-) but as a mom I am happy that atleast one meal is healthy ! lovely pick fr the letter, Vidhya
Thanks, Kalyani. :-) Agree suddenly millets has become a big rage.
Omg this is an amazing lunchbox recipe srividhya !! so perfectly made sevai, they look perfect without sticking to each other which is so important !! These are so easy to make lunch box ideas which we tend to forget most of the time and just keep banging our head on what to cook.. You have got some amazing lunch box idea srividhya .. kudos !!
Thanks much, Manjula.
I make the sevais..but they are always loaded with veggies..I like these lemon ones, they sound delicious..let me try these the next time I make this breakfast..and they make a perfect lunch box recipe.
Thanks, Vaishali. I am yet to try vegetable sevai and somehow always I end up with soggy ones. Need to master it. :-)
With the basic sevai with can try numerous versions suiting our taste .Beautiful share da.. I should make this soon!!
Yeah, very true Sharmila. Thanks :-)
My mom used to make this with idiyappam and we sure loved it. Your version with the ready sevai too looks irresistible. Perfect lunch box treat..
Thanks, Gayathri.
Love this simple and flavorful lemon sevai. I love sevai in all its variety and I am about to post one such dish next week.
Oh that’s great. Waiting for your version.
Such a simple yet homey and delicious dish. I have to look out for Millet sevai in Indian store. Also using coconut oil for the tempering sounds so flavorful — will have to try it next time I make lemon rice.
Thanks, Pavani. Please do try coconut oil, you will definitely love it. Shastha brand has millet sevai.
Lipsmacking here, lemon sevai is my all time favourite, even my girl’s favourite. And that lunch box tempts me a lot. Drooling here, very catchy and my kind of food.
Thanks, Priya.
I love sevai in any form, lemon sevai looks awesome and it makes the great lunch box recipe !! So far haven’t used any ready made ones available in the market which brand you are using here??
I use Anil brand for regular sevai and for millet one, I prefer Shastha brand da.
The warm days are finally coming and this sounds like a perfect dish for that weather.
:-) Thanks