Beetroot Rice with Peanuts and Coconut

All hail this riot of red! With the crunch of peanuts, the creaminess of coconut, the heat of chili and pepper, this beetroot rice recipe makes for an immensely satisfying meal.

You Need:

• Rice, boiled and cooled – 3 cups
• Beetroot, blanched and grated – 1.5 cups`
• Fresh coconut, grated – 1 cup
• Raw unsalted peanuts – 1 cup
• Salt – to taste
• Pepper corns – 6-7, crushed
• Red chili flakes – 1/2 teaspoon
Mustard seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil (preferably peanut oil) – 1 tablespoon

In the picture above (clockwise from top-left): Boiled rice, raw unsalted peanuts, grated fresh coconut, grated blanched beetroot, red chili flakes and crushed peppercorns.

How To Make Beetroot Rice:

1. Pre-assembly steps

Boil the rice: Boil the rice as you normally would. Make sure it has cooled to room temperature, or better still – refrigerated – before it is used for this recipe. Just before use, sprinkle salt over the rice and fluff it with a fork.

Blanch and grate the beetroot: Wash the beets clean and immerse them in a pan of salted, boiling water. Simmer for ten minutes. Take the pan off the heat and let the beets sit in the hot water for another thirty minutes.

Let the beets cool down, then skin and grate.

Keep aside or refrigerate till ready to use.

2. Assemble the beetroot rice

Heat a tablespoon of peanut oil in a thick-bottomed pan. Add to the hot oil mustard and cumin seeds.

When the mustard and cumin seeds start spluttering, set heat to low and tip in the raw peanuts.

Fry the peanuts for 6-7 minutes, stirring every now and then for even cooking. To the frying peanuts, add chili flakes and crushed pepper corns.

When the peanuts have turned a deeper hue, add the grated beets.

Add some salt (not all, remember the rice is salted too) and stir around a couple of times while the grated beets cook for ~5 minutes.

Tip the boiled rice into the pan. Mix with a gentle hand to avoid breaking the delicate rice grains.

When the rice has taken on the red hue of the beetroot (~5-6 minutes) and heated up, transfer the grated fresh coconut to the pan.

Cook till the coconut has meshed well with the other ingredients in the pan (~2-3 minutes). Switch off the heat.

Beetroot rice is ready.

Serve as soon as cooked or carry in the lunch box.

This rice tastes delicious on its own without any other accompaniments. You could add to the plate a dollop of pickle and raita…

Notes:

Check out other one-pot meals with rice in them…

…and more recipes that use beetroot: