Mushroom Risotto Vegan or just vegetarian your choice!

I love Mushrooms and rice is one of the few things I can eat with no problems. I am being careful to make sure I eat enough fibre at the moment so am opting more and more for brown rice when it is available. Its harder to find brown risotto rice but if you persist it out there. I get mine from my local health food store.

I am not sure if my small person will like this as she is often suspicious of mushrooms, but I can guarantee if I threw in chicken or diced beef she'd be all over it! I suppose you could beef this recipie up with tofu if you were a vegetarian and in the need for more of a protein fix!

Vegan Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients

1 tbsp dried porcini mushrooms
A drizzle of olive oil
1 red onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
225g/8oz chestnut mushrooms, sliced
1/4 pint water
350g/12oz arborio rice (preferably brown)
1.2 litres/2 pints hot vegetable stock
2 tbls cream (or soy cream replacer if doing it vegan style)
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil (dried will do at a push but its not quite the same)
freshly grated parmesan cheese, to serve (or vegan parmesan cheese replacer)

Method

Soak the mushrooms in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain well if you want the risotto very mushroomy then keep the mushroom water to use later - otherwise its lovely as a base for a Miso Soup.

Heat the oil in a large, heavy based saucepan and add the onion and garlic. Fry over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes, until softened. Add the mushrooms and fry for a further 2-3 minutes, until browned, rhis gives them a better flavour.

Stir in the rice and coat in the oil. Pour in the mushroom water (or 1/4 pint of plain water) and simmer, stirring, until the liquid has been absorbed. Add a ladleful of the stock and simmer, stirring again, until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock in this way, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is plump and tender, this takes a while but its worth it otherwise your risotto can get over soggy.

Chop the soaked mushrooms and stir in, along with the basil and the cream (or soy cream). Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese or the Vegan Cheese replacer

I had this meal with my favourite Alpro Soy cream and the Soy Parmesan Cheese replacer I bought the other day and lo and behold it was pretty damn good even if I do say so myself. This detox diet is getting easier the more delicious food I discover!