Vegetarian Risotto Recipe – Everyone knows about Pizza and Pasta. What other Italian food comes to your mind when you hear Italian food? There is more to Italian cuisine, there is this Risotto, which is relatively less known. Here is an easy to follow veg risotto recipe.
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What is risotto
Risotto is a creamy Italian rice dish. Risotto’s taste is very similar to that of rice version of mac and cheese. “Risotto” is taken from the term “riso”, which means rice. Risotto originates from north of Italy (src: Wiki). Much like lots of other rice dishes like biryani, you can have veg or non-veg variants of risotto. Risotto cooking involves cooking with wine and rice release its starches, creating a rich, velvety sauce with soft grains.
What is risotto made of
In the most basic form risotto is rice and the broth and the aroma it has. The trick of making best risotto is getting the right texture and softness to the rice. The trick to creating the perfect texture for risotto is preparing and warming your broth ahead of time.
Can You Use Regular Rice to Make Risotto?
You can use any type of rice. Normally long grain rice like Basmati and Jasmine rice would not stick to each other and are ideally not the best rice for risotto. On the other hand, short-grain like like arborio rice sticks together and best suited for risotto.
There are numerous risotto recipes with all sort of ingredients, but all of them require cooking rice. Unlike other rice preparations, for risotto, rice does not need to be pre-rinsed, boiled, or drained, as washing would remove much of the starch, which is required for nice creamy texture of risotto.
Coming back to why I decided to make risotto. We went to a local famous Italian restaurant and we all ate risotto. After meal, my husband said, “you never made risotto for me”, to which I said, “I did not realise you will like it”, so here it is my take on risotto.
Procedure for making Risotto is fairly simple. Ingredients or risotto may vary, depending on veg or non-veg risotto. Get the ingredients ready (by part cooking, eg, sautéed vegetables ready on one side). Get the rice ready by cooking in wine, and veg stock. You can use chicken if making chicken risotto, etc. Then add the sautéed vegetables in rice…pretty simple cooking, I say.
Method of making veg risotto
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan and add broccoli, asparagus, bell pepper, onion and sauté till they are tender and crunchy. Take them out and keep aside.
- To the same pan add rest of oil and rice to it. Add wine and sauté till all the wine is absorbed. Now add vegetable broth one ladle at a time till it is all absorbed. Sauté constantly as these rice tend to stick to the bottom. Keep the heat to medium-low all the time.
- Add another ladle and sauté again and repeat this until all the broth is absorbed. Now add salt, pepper powder and mix well. Add sautéed vegetables and mix. Switch off the heat.
Serving suggestion for risotto
Serve risotto hot with green salad or bruschetta, along with choice of wine.
Below is the simple step by step details of making Veg Risotto at home.
Recipe Card
Easy Vegetarian Risotto
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Arborio rice
- 1/4 Cup Cooking wine
- 3 Cup Vegetables Broth
- 1 Cup Broccoli Florets
- 1/2 Cup Asparagus Chopped
- 1/3 Cup Bell Pepper Sliced (I have used Red and Yellow bell peppers)
- 1 Onion Sliced
- Salt As per taste
- 1/2 Teaspoon Black pepper powder
- 2 Tablespoon Oil
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a pan and add broccoli, asparagus, bell pepper, onion and sauté till they are tender and crunchy. Take them out and keep aside.
- To the same pan add rest of oil and rice to it. Add wine and sauté till all the wine is absorbed. Now add vegetable broth one ladle at a time till it is all absorbed. Sauté constantly as these rice tend to stick to the bottom. Keep the heat to medium-low all the time.
- Add another ladle and sauté again and repeat this until all the broth is absorbed. Now add salt, pepper powder and mix well. Add sautéed vegetables and mix. Switch off the heat.
- Serve your Risotto and enjoy it hot with a wine of your choice.
Video
Notes
- You can add Parmesan cheese to it once it’s all cooked. I didn’t added in my recipe as no one in my house is a fan of Parmesan.
- Keep the broth warm as it slows the cooking process if you add cold broth.