Mauve rice with bell peppers, carrots, olives and pine nuts (vegan)

The mauve rice is very special type of rice that grows in Laos. We discovered it in a little ethnic ingredients store and I just had to buy a bag and try it. It tastes sweet, a bit chewy and it sticks together like arborio rice. All in all, it resembles Chinese red rice as far as consistency and mouth-feel go, but it's way prettier in my opinion :). We paired it with flavorful veggies and olives and nuts just as colorful as the rice and the result was very light and yummy :). 
Of course, the result would be just as good with regular rice if you're looking for a nourishing detox dinner on the vegan side. Enjoy it with any rice you have :)


Last year: Spicy shrimp and wild rice soup (Chinese).

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 200 g mauve rice (from Laos)
• 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar (or condimento balsamico bianco)
• half a red, yellow and green bell pepper
• 1 carrot
• 1 handful of green olives
• 25 g pine nuts
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

First of all, check out the pretty rice :)

Boil the rice according to package instructions (about 20-25 minutes). Finely chop the bell peppers and carrots and fry them in a little olive oil:

Stir in the veggies once in a while. They don't need to get really soft, just a little fried for extra flavor, so about 5 minutes will do, to get them to retain most crunchiness and vitamins. When the rice is boiled, add the vinegar to it and mix well (for extra tang, plain rice can be quite boring without it). Let aside. When the veggies are about done, also add the olives (sliced) and pine nuts:

Mix some more to get everything coated in the oil and leave on the heat for 1-2 minutes more for the pine nuts to catch some extra color and flavor. Meanwhile arrange the purple rice on plates, then top with the veggie-nut mix:

Season with extra salt and pepper if you want. It's done, dig in! :)