I had no idea on how to dye rice with food colors until my daughter had to do a craft project at school with dyed rice. That was the time, when I learnt about the process of dyeing the rice with food colors. While she was busy with her craft, I was staying busy to experiment with the dyed rice to make some unique recipe.

How to Dye Rice with Food Colors
Use your favorite choice of food colors for this dyeing procedure. Before you start the dyeing process make sure that the rice is thoroughly clean. You can use a colander to clean the rice by pouring clean running water from top. Let the water drain completely from the rice and then transfer this rice into a large bowl. Pour clean water to this bowl, to cover all the rice. But don’t add water more than that. In a separate bowl take 2-3 tablespoons of water and to this water add 5-10 drops of food color. Mix the color properly and then add this gradually to the soaked rice. If you think the color is not dark enough, you may few more drops to it. Now use a fork to mix the color thoroughly in the rice. You have to move the fork inside the bowl to coat all the rice with the dye. Let the rice sit for 5 minutes and then drain the colored water through a strainer. Lay this colored rice over the newspaper for drying. Drying will take some time and occasionally you might need to separate all the rice with a fork or your hand. When the rice is completely dried store it in a airtight container for later use.

Uses of Dyed Rice
The dyed rice is mostly used for various craft projects. But other than this, you can also use the colored rice for preparing some of the delicious and vibrant dishes. One of them is the rainbow rice, where you can prepare the colored rice in 7 rainbow colors separately. You can add cooked minced meat to the rice, to make it more delicious. After that, take a big platter to arrange the colored rice in the order of rainbow. Garnish this rice with cucumber, tomato and onion slices. Another variation can be done by layering the colored rice on a big pot one after another. Between two layers of colored rice, you can put a layer of cooked minced meat, onion, tomato and cucumber slices. This way, you can use your innovative mind to decorate any dish with the colored rice.

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