Green Vegetable and Mushroom Risotto
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apologies: due to size, this recipe cannot be viewed on a mobile phone
This was a very interesting test, because I did not think you could freeze rice. Turns out it is absolutely possible. My daughter loves kale so I decided to let her test the kale and oyster mushroom version. She ate the defrosted risotto for lunch, even cold, and loved it. She is my second tasting person at the moment to test the best ways to meal prep. When it comes to meal prepping, there is so much to learn to make really yummy lunches even if they are meal prepped days in advance and are frozen. We both agreed that we don't like eating the same lunch everyday, so for us cooking 5 meals on Sunday and eating it 5 days in a row just leads to hating that meal for the rest of your life! So we need to fill our freezer with a variation of meals, that we can take out of the freezer in the evening to defrost gently over night. This means you can take a different meal to work everyday. And I am so pleased to announce that the risotto worked really well! Mia loved it this much:
Excuse her language...but I was very happy to receive it!
This is my freezer, full of vegan meals. I decide in the evening what I feel like eating for lunch, indian curry, minestrone, or kale and mushroom risotto....Then I defrost my meal on the kitchen bench in winter (in Sydney) over night. It depends how warm your room is as to how long it will take to defrost. I do not like microwaves very much and would not recommend using one to defrost one of those meals. I believe especially meals with rice need very slow defrosting. You can defrost a meal in the fridge too, which will just take a little longer. You could try taking it out in the morning the day before you want to eat it, place the frozen meal on a plate, to collect the water when it defrosts and defrost over 24 hours in the fridge.
If you decide to make this risotto take into consideration that everything is made from srcatch and these things take a little longer. So may be prepare the stock one evening when you are at home and don't mind watching the stock simmer and steep. It is not a lot of work as such, but for full flavour to develop it takes a little bit of time.
Well worth every minute!
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THE STOCK
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you need a very tasty stock for any risotto and this one is a great option!
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I make this stock often and store it in jars in the freezer
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it is so good, that I sometimes have it as a drink in the evening instead of tea
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it is yellow due to tumeric
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you need 3 1/4 cups of stock for this recipe, which makes 2-3 portions
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click here to make my vegetable stock
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due to risotto being fairly bland usually, my stock is quite potent and stronger and tastier than store bought stocks
OPTION 1
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kale and oyster mushrooms
OPTION 2
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leek and button mushrooms
CURLY KALE AND OYSTER MUSHROOM
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I made both versions several times and love them both
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the oyster mushrooms look a little more fancy but are harder to find
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just use what ever you prefer
HEAT UP YOUR STOCK
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heat 3 1/4 cups of vegetable stock
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during the process of adding ladle after ladle to the rice, keep the stock hot, just below simmering
FRYING THE AROMATICS
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heat 1-2 TB (tablespoons) olive oil in your large frying pan
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add 1/2 medium onion, chopped small
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1 small red chilli, chopped finely
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1 tea (teaspoon) freshly grated ginger
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1 tea freshly chopped garlic
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add all the chopped onion, ginger, garlic and chilli and fry on medium until the onion is starting to become translucent
ADD THE RICE
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add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil to the pan
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add 1 cup of arborio or risotto rice
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stir the oil into the rice so that the rice is evenly coated in oil
KEEP THE PAN ON MEDIUM
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add 1 ladle of hot stock to the rice and stir well to cover all the rice
LEVEL THE RICE
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use a wooden spoon to level the content
NO RICE ON SIDE OF PAN
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make sure to scrape ALL rice corns back in the pan, there is nothing worse than having a few uncooked and rock hard rice corns in your mouth
ADD MORE STOCK
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once most of the stock is absorbed from the previous ladle, add another one
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stir well and scrape all the ones sticking on the side into the pan
PREPARE MUSHROOMS AND KALE
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I use 150 gr of oyster mushrooms
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and 150 gr stripped kale
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during the process of adding stock to the risotto you have time to prepare the veggies
CURLY KALE
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when you look closer at this vegetable it is quite mind blowing what it looks like....
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I personally cannot eat kale raw, it is too hard to digest for me
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so it needs to be "treated"
CURLY KALE
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the hard core in the centre needs to be removed
CURLY KALE
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after removing the tough strip in the middle I add it to my chopping machine
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I process it until it is fairly small, click on the image to see the size of it
CURLY KALE
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fry the chopped kale in a little olive oil until soft, which takes only a few minutes
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FRY MUSHROOMS IN WATER
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I have started to fry my mushrooms in water, they absorb way too much oil otherwise
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just add them to the pan with some water and fry until they have shrunken
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once they shrunk, drain the water and add a little olive oil to brown them
ALL STOCK IS ABSORBED
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when the whole 3 1/4 cups of stock are absorbed, simply add your veggies and mushrooms and stir them through
DONE!
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if you eat it straight away, good
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if you want to freeze it for another time , wait until it is cool enough
LABEL LIDS FOR FREEZING
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once the risotto is cool enough, add your portion to a glass jar to freeze it
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I am avoiding plastic and zip lock bags and find these glass jars work really well
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just leave some space under the lid, about 4 cm so that the lids does not popp off when the risotto expands during freezing
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wait until it is completely cold before freezing it
SERVING
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I sprinkle at least some chilli flakes over my risotto
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I love to eat it with a sauce too, for example chilli jam or
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sweet chilli sauce or
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pesto rosso
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see below for links to the recipes
ADDING A FLAVOUR
ENHANCER
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I know, there are not a lot of things I don't add some form of chilli or a punchy sauce or dip
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to me it makes plant-based cuisine interesting and flavoursome
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here are the links for the sauces, click on the underlined sauce to get to the
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sweet chilli sauce using dates as sweetener, not processed sugar