Risotto is always a good idea. It’s a very versatile dish since you can make it with different kinds of vegetables such as peas, courgette or roasted butternut squash. A mushroom risotto is a classic though. Parmesan and butter make it nice and creamy and for that reason they are one of the main ingredients in a risotto, however it can be easily adjusted as a plant-based dish if you are following a vegan diet.
I find this dish tastes best with a mix of different mushrooms. You can also use dried porcini, just plan some more time at the beginning as they need to be soaked in hot water for about 20 minutes first. Discard the water aftewards.
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 2 cloves of black garlic, diced
- 1 small head of white onion, finely chopped
- A pinch of salt
- A pinch of black pepper
- 100 gr of arborio rice
- 300 ml vegetable stock
- 30 gr of mushrooms, sliced
- 25 gr of butter – for the non-vegan version
For the vegan parmesan:
- 1 tbsp of walnuts
- 1 tbsp of almond
- 2 tbsp of nutritional yeast
Instructions:
Heat the olive oil in a deep pan or a pot, add the diced onions and black garlic and fry a few minutes until soft. Season with salt and pepper, then mix in the mushrooms. You can omit the salt if you are using vegetable stock that is salty enough already.
Now you can add in the rice, and start adding the vegetable stock in batches. Every time the rice soaks up the stock – add more. Don’t forget to stir often so the stock gets evenly distributed.
The final result should be a creamy risotto – to make sure you don’t dry it out, add enough stock.
While the rice is cooking, add the vegan parmesan ingredients to a blender and blitz. Top the cooked risotto with them.
If you prefer the non-vegan version of this dish, you can add a nob of butter after the risotto has cooked.
