Orange rice is yummy

In a bid to get us, that is, mother and child, to take more fruits and vegetables, I've started to serve colored rice for our meals.

It is really quite simple and I wonder why I had not done this earlier.

Grate carrots as finely as possible. Use a microplane grater if you have one. I have one, but can't locate it, so used a small blender to mesh the carrot.

Mix the grated carrot with white rice to sit in the rice cooker for a few minutes before serving. The grated carrot can even be mixed in at the very last moment before service.

R loves it and I sometimes shape it for her with rice moulds, at times incorporating sesame seeds and seaweed bits in there. We have also done purple/light pink rice with cabbages last Sunday and it wasn't as successful as I didn't manage to grate the cabbage as finely as I should and there was a distinct "green" taste to it. We have so much fun with it that veggie eating Mr B wants his own share of colored rice as well.

This natural way of coloring rice is very popular with Bento making hobbyists such as this entry from Just Bento but I've modified it slightly to leave out the oil and salt and microwave portion of it and find that it works well for me. It really makes food a lot more fun, both during preparation and when eating it. This coloring works well with both brown and white rice - give it a try!