There might be some form of a animal fat, it’s not uncommon to saute rice before simmering in liquid, and extremely common for that liquid to be stock. My money is on a seasoned stock for that color.
Thanks for the insight :) I imagine you could use basic vegetable broth instead though, right?
The taste would probably be quite different but vegetable stock should work. Mushroom broth would probably work better as well. You might need to supplement with more oil or something similar though
It’s certainly possible, but the flavor will be different. A lot of food is made to feed as much as possible while reducing waste; stock is a very easy way to get more calories and flavor out of animals (bones specifically). Vegan food is a relatively new concept in terms of culinary history AFAIK so most recipes default to traditional methods.
