Sri Lankan Pebble Rice

I cook rice every day for lunch. Sometimes I like to throw in some vegetables, some times make masbaiy sometimes as a salad.  I saw this recipe in a Sri Lankan cookbook, The fine art of Sri lankan cuisine, and this recipe caught my attention.
   What interested me was that it had beetroot in it, and since I have limited ideas about using beetroot,  I decided to give it a try. It's a lovely rice dish and a great way to get kids to eat vegetables like beetroot.
My son was quite fascinated by the pinkish tinge on the rice and wanted to know why the beetroot gives it colour.
Anyway back to my pebble rice. Its called pebble rice because the vegetables are cut into pebble shapes, I think, I am not sure how big or small a pebble is so I just cut it into small cubes.

For 2-3 people

1 small potato
1/2 a large carrot or 1 small baby carrot
1/2 a big beetroot or 1 baby beetroot
2-3 spring onions ( finely sliced, keep the white and green parts separated)
1 /2 red bell pepper or 1 small pepper
1 clove garlic, finely chopped or grated
5 curry leaves
1 cup rice( preferably basmati), washed and soaked in water for about 10 minutes
oil or butter or ghee
Water or stock

1. First prepare rice, by heating a wok or a nonstick pan or even your rice cooker,  add oil and then saute' the white part of your spring onions till soft, about a minute. Add garlic, and curry leaves and stir fry for a minute. Drain the rice, add to the pan and stir fry so it is coated with oil and onion mixture. Add salt ( about a big pinch) and then water or stock. For this amount of rice you will need about 1 cup and a little more water, say a 1/2 cup more. Cook uncovered over medium heat.


2. For the vegetables, peel all the root vegetables, keep the beetroot separate and do it last as it will stain everything else. Remove the  white membrane of the peppers and the seeds. Cut everything into about 1/2 - 1 cm cubes.

3. Heat oil in a frying pan or a wok, add your potatoes first and fry them till they are nice and golden on the outside and cooked through. Don't make the oil too hot as it will burn and make sure you give a toss to rotate it and cook evenly. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

4. Next toss the carrots just to cook a little but not brown. Remove onto kitchen paper. Finally, the beetroot, cook as you did for the carrots, just a couple of tosses in the oil.

5. Put all the cooked vegetables into a salad bowl or mixing bowl, along with the greens of the spring onions and the bell peppers. Then stir in the cooked rice. Mix well. Serve.