From Madhur Jaffrey's World Vegetarian. A wonderful cookbook with an amazing breadth of recipes.
Ms. Jaffrey says to use unwashed risotto rice to get at all the starch- a shocking idea for a compulsive food washer like me! A good risotto, she says, is adult 'nursery food', with an assertive density, and a decided bite. Never undercooked, but firm and creamy, like well-cooked pasta.
I took a leap of faith and followed the instructions, down to the unwashed rice. The end result was a gorgeous risotto- simple, creamy, perfect.
Ingredients:
4 cups light vegetable stock ( I used one stock cube dissolved in 4 cups hot water)
3 tbsp olive oil ( I used one tbsp)
1 tbsp pine nuts
1/2 small onion, finely chopped ( I did not use it)
1 tbsp golden raisins
10 oz fresh spinach, washed, dried, chopped
1 cup unwashed risotto rice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 tbsp unsalted butter, diced
Heat the stock and keep it hot over low heat.
Pour the oil in a large, heavy saute pan. ( I used a dutch oven.) When hot, add the pine nuts. Fry them until golden brown. Remove.
Now add the onion to the oil. Fry it for a minute, and add the raisins. Stir a few times and add the spinach. Fry for a few minutes, and add the rice and cinnamon. Fry for another minute.
Pour in a ladleful of stock. Turn the heat to medium and keep stirring. As the stock gets absorbed, keep adding another ladleful and stirring. Keep doing it until all the stock is gone, for at least 22 minutes.
Add and stir in the cheese and butter, until well mixed. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat. Let the risotto rest for a minute, then serve with pine nuts sprinkled on top.
Comments
Purplesque: I love the idea of pinenuts and raisins together.
She wrote my first Indian cookbook, and she's really clear, and stuff always comes out right.
Risotto is one of those things that looks harder than it is.
You have to believe the recipe though.
No thinking... can't be that much cheese, or the like.
YY4MT (Yummy yummy 4 my... well, you get the picture I'm sure!!)
Oooooo, you've just reminded me. Years ago my brother-in-law gave me an MH cookbook. I've just dragged it off my crammed recipes bookshelf and dusted it off. I shall have to go look ...
But until then, I'll just cook this. Kids will love it; hubby will grumble cos it doesn't have meat, and consists of "rice and green stuff". Pfft, if you're hungry and don't want to cook for yourself hubby-dear, EAT IT! (Might just relent and put prawns in it...he likes prawns!)
Btw, thanks for the pies recipe. It was a complete and utter hit with kids (and me). Photos on TW in about 5 minutes!
You are so right about the no-thinking part- especially true for her recipes.
Do try the risotto- it is so good! MJ also has quite a few all-inclusive cookbooks in addition to the vegetarian ones. World Vegetarian is my favorite, though- she has combined similar recipes from very different countries, and I am fascinated by how diverse yet how similar we all are.