Sunset Rice

I love cooking with colorful ingredients. One spice I've learned to use this year is saffron. I love the golden yellow color it gives things. Recently, I've been experimenting with beet juice. There was one thing I tried that I thought came out well, so I'll share it in case anyone else wants to try. I call it sunset rice, because the rice was in shades of yellow, orange, red, pink, and salmon.

Sunset Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup Calrose rice
1 3/4 cup broth or stock (I used bone broth)
1/4 cup beetroot juice (I used some from a glass bottle I got at the grocery store)
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions:

Combine broth and rice in a pot and stir. Slowly drizzle beetroot juice in a spiral pattern over the top. Do not stir. Sprinkle pepper flakes. Bring to boil then reduce heat and cook 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. (I used a pressure cooker on the low setting). Fluff and serve.

Comments:
By not stirring in the beetroot juice, it stained the rice unevenly, which creates the varying sunset hues. The cooking mellows out the beet flavor and it combines well with the flavor of the broth. I like spicy things, so I added red pepper. I also experimented with various spices. A pinch of cumin was nice. Next time I may saute onions or garlic before adding the broth to the pot, or vary the proportions of beetroot juice and broth and/or add saffron to get deeper color.

Here's a photo: