Natural colour for rice

Are you tired of serving white rice all the time? Are you looking for a simple idea to make your simple pulao look exotic? I believe that the appearance of any delicacy I serve is as important as the taste. I stumbled upon this idea accidentally a couple of months ago when cooking rice in my rice cooker and steaming beet root in the steamer over the same rice cooker. 

You could add bay leaves, cloves and cinnamon to the rice when boiling. Peel the beetroot and cut into pieces and place on the steamer. The red colour from the beetroot will fall over the rice. Let the rice cool down to room temperature and then gently mix it well to get the effect as in the attached photograph. Hmmm so what do you do when you don't have a rice cooker with a steamer? You could use a regular cooker and place the beetroot over a plate with holes. For example, plates used to make idlis. Or you could boil the beet separately and pour some of the coloured water over the rice. Wait for the rice to cool and then mix it roughly.