European variant of hearty main dishes made from rice cereal - risotto.
Risotto is different from the eastern pilaf absolutely everything - its components, cooking style, taste. But to say that some kind of food is tastier is impossible, both options have a lot of merit.
If you have not ordered a particular dish, you can always surprise the eaters.
Having learned to cook pilaf, be sure to master the risotto, so you will get two delicious dishes in your piggy bank of recipes - diverse, nourishing and very tasty.
Risotto with vegetables - the general principles of cooking
• For risotto, it is necessary to choose starchy rice varieties, “Arborio” is the most famous of them, and it is this that is easiest to find in supermarkets. You can take rice cereal, on the packaging of which it is written so - rice for risotto. It is quite permissible to take and round grain, varieties "Krasnodar".
• The liquid base of the risotto can be vegetable broth or broth. It all depends on what ingredients in addition to vegetables will be added to the dish. Broth or broth can be replaced with just water. The use of bouillon cubes is highly undesirable, they are able to kill the main taste of the dish.
• Any liquid (broth, water, decoction) should be added to the rice gradually, in small portions and only after the previously added is completely absorbed. One part of the rice will require 3-4 parts of the liquid base. The dish will be ideal if you take 400 grams of rice and two liters of liquid to make it.
• Wine - one of the main components of the Italian risotto. It should be white and dry only. Fortified, as well as red and rosé wines do not fit. However, if you do not want to add alcohol, you can simply omit it.
• Cheese, like wine, is not always added, but it is present in the original Italian recipe. It is introduced into the risotto at the end, alone or mixed with butter. The original use of Parmesan, in the home kitchen can be replaced by any hard cheese. • As for vegetables, there are almost no restrictions. Zucchini, eggplants, zucchini, cauliflower or white cabbage, carrots, onions, tomatoes - any will do. They can be both fresh and frozen. In the risotto with vegetables, you can add seafood: shrimp, mussels, squid. Often the dish is prepared with chicken or meat (minced meat).
• Properly cooked risotto should have a delicate, creamy consistency. This is something between a pilaf and a porridge - not boiled soft rice, only slightly glued together. To achieve this, it is advisable to cook risotto in a deep thick-walled frying pan or stew-pan with a double bottom. Rice should be mixed regularly when languishing in a liquid base, do not let it boil, and constantly monitor that it is not digested.
Classic recipe for risotto with vegetables
Ingredients:
• one eggplant;
• rice - 250 gr .;
• 800 ml of chicken broth;
• 20 gr. butter;
• dry white wine - 200 ml;
• onion head (preferably sweet);
• olive oil - 1 tbsp. l .;
• 250 gr. tomatoes, canned in tomato sauce;
• peeled shrimps - 100 gr .;
• 60 gr. cheese;
• capers - 30 gr.
Cooking Method:
1. Cut the eggplants into small cubes, transfer them to a colander and substitute a deep bowl for it. Slightly add, leave for a quarter of an hour. Then rinse the eggplants well with salt and leave in a colander to let the water drain.
2. We put on a medium heat a thick-walled frying pan, pour oil into it, heat it well.
3. Finely shred sweet onions and together with eggplants lay out in hot oil. If the fat is not pre-heated, eggplant immediately absorb it. Stirring occasionally, cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes.
4. Add capers, tomatoes and thawed shrimps to vegetables, mix. We maintain the vegetable mixture over low heat for a minute, remove from heat.
5. In a deeper frying pan, melt the butter and immediately pour rice into it. Cook for about 7 minutes on low heat, stirring until the rice grains become transparent. 6. Pour wine to rice, and as soon as it absorbs it, we begin to fill up the broth. Each time we scoop a little less than a ladle and, before adding a new portion, wait until the rice absorbs all the moisture well.
7. We try several rice, if they are dense and do not creak on the teeth - we introduce a tomato dressing from vegetables. After five minutes, add coarsely grated cheese. Well stir the risotto and set aside for five minutes. Serve.
Mushroom risotto with vegetables and fresh champignons
Ingredients:
• fresh, preferably young, champignons - 400 gr .;
• one and a half glasses of rice grain;
• medium sized onion;
• half a cup of wine (dry white);
• one zucchini;
• olive oil - 60 ml;
• 50 gr. Parmesan cheese;
• homemade butter - 30 g;
• liter of vegetable broth or chicken broth.
Cooking Method:
1. We clean the remnants of the earth with champignons, wash them, dry them well and cut them into thin plates. Shift into a frying pan, add some olive oil and fry - first for two minutes on intense heat, then about a quarter of an hour on low heat. Do not cover with lid and mix it regularly.
2. After waiting for all the moisture to evaporate, add the chopped onion. Fry with mushrooms until softened. Put small cubes of zucchini in a frying pan and continue cooking. Remove from the stove when its slices are soft. Do not overdo it, they should not fall apart.
3. In melted butter in a pan, lower the rice. Fry the cereal on low heat for three minutes, pour in the wine. Cooking, without stirring, until complete evaporation of moisture. Add broth or vegetable broth to the rice so that it covers the cereal only slightly. Cover the pan with a lid and continue cooking for about 20 minutes, adding more liquid. Do not let the rice boil, otherwise the rice will boil out and lose its shape.
4. Shift mushrooms, fried with vegetables, to the finished rice. Lightly add some salt, add a little ground pepper and, having mixed well, bring the risotto to readiness - boil for a small heat for five minutes. 5. On a fine grater we rub cheese. Mix it with softened butter and lay out an even layer on the already prepared risotto.
Risotto with vegetables and chicken
Ingredients:
• two large chicken legs;
• large carrot;
• sweet pepper, preferably red;
• two tomatoes;
• bitter onions - 2 heads;
• round grain rice - 2 glasses;
• high-quality oil;
• garlic;
• small lemon - 1/4 of the fruit.
Cooking Method:
1. First you need to cook the broth. We wash the chicken legs with running water, cut off all that is superfluous, and, filling it with four glasses of water, put it on an intense fire. Not allowing to gather on the surface of the broth foam, bring to a boil. Then, reducing the heat, boil the chicken for about 50 minutes until cooked.
2. Remove the chicken from the broth, letting it cool slightly, remove the meat from the bones. Cut and lightly fry in vegetable oil. Put the meat in a plate, do not drain the fat from the pan.
3. While the broth is cooling, we are preparing vegetables. A large grater grind carrots. The flesh of sweet pepper and tomatoes are cut into small pieces, the lemon is cut into small rings, and finely chopped the onion.
4. We sort out the rice and, without rinsing, pour water. We set aside.
5. We place a frying pan on a small fire, in which the meat is fried and we warm up the remaining fat well. First we put onions in it, and after its slices become transparent - a carrot. After frying until golden color, add sweet pepper, and when it starts to soften - tomatoes. Simmer all together for no more than two minutes.
6. Squeeze the water from the rice. To the vegetables we lower fried chicken and stir well, lay the rice. We add broth, not less than 4 glasses, we establish the maximum fire. When the broth begins to boil, reduce the heat and sprinkle the rice with chopped garlic. Three small teeth will be enough. Top evenly lay out the lemon circles and leave to languish under the lid. 7. After 40 minutes, remove the lemon and mix the rice with vegetables and meat well, remove the sample. Ate cereal not steamed enough, pour a little more broth and bring to readiness.
Risotto with vegetables - “Dietary”
Ingredients:
• Fresh cabbage, belochanka - 250 g;
• 130 gr. round grain rice groats;
• two spoons of tomato puree;
• 200 gr. chicken fillet (breast);
• small carrot;
• two large garlic cloves;
• mix of seasonings “For vegetable dishes”.
Cooking Method:
1. Shred cabbage with thin strips, coarsely rub the carrot. Put the vegetables in a deep pan and fill with water. There should not be a lot of liquid, it is enough that it covers only a little vegetables. Turn on a little heat and leave to simmer under the lid until the cabbage is half cooked.
2. Wash the fillet with water and cut into medium-sized, oblong shapes with slices or straws.
3. Fill the cabbage with tomato, stir and immediately put asleep rice, add water. It must completely cover the cereal and even be slightly higher so that the rice grains can stew.
4. Add some spice, add some spices, mix well and put the risotto on low heat.
5. After about 25 minutes, check the rice - if ready, turn off the heat.
Meat risotto with vegetables (with minced meat)
Ingredients:
• non-greasy, preferably beef, minced - 250 grams;
• bulb onion;
• a glass of rice cereal;
• two bunches of green onion feathers;
• large young zucchini;
• small eggplant;
• refined oil;
• four glasses of water.
Cooking Method:
1. Peel the onion and shred it. Put it in the pan with hot oil and fry until golden.
2. Cut into medium-sized zucchini and eggplant, spread the vegetables to the onions. Add a glass of water, a little salt. Cover with a lid and, turning on the minimum fire, simmer for about ten minutes. 3. Add minced meat to vegetables, season it with pepper and only add a little. Following the meat in the pan send the cut feathers of green onions. Cook another 10 minutes.
4. Fill the rice, pour half a liter of water, continue to cook under the lid until all the liquid is absorbed. After that, mix well, add another glass of water and still with the lid closed, bring to readiness.
Risotto with vegetables
Ingredients:
• six small cauliflower blossoms;
• half a cup of frozen green peas;
• large sweet carrot;
• 150 grams zucchini;
• 40 ml of good vegetable oil;
• small onion head;
• 230 gr. dry rice;
• oregano, dried mint, rosemary, basil - 1 tsp;
• garlic;
• frozen mussels and squids - 200 gr .;
• 70 gr. Parmesan cheese or hard cheese of your choice;
• half a cup Aligote or Rkatsiteli.
Cooking Method:
1. With the exception of onions, all vegetables are cut into small cubes. Putting everything in the pot, pour 2 liters. water and quickly bring to a boil. Put the peas and, with medium heat, bring the vegetables to half-cooked. Leave the pan on the very minimum heat.
2. We put on a medium heat a thick-walled frying pan (stew-pan), pour in the oil and put two garlic cloves into it, after having crushed them. Warming up no more than a minute, take out the garlic.
3. In the “garlic” oil we drop the shredded onion and let it lightly browned, but not fried. When onion slices become amber, add rice cereal and, stirring, fry the cereal until the rice is transparent. Pour in the wine, continue to cook until complete evaporation.
4. From the broth skimmer we shift all the vegetables to rice. Add spices and mix everything thoroughly.
5. Salt vegetable broth and begin to gradually add it to the rice. At one time, pour no more scoop and wait until it is fully absorbed. Before the introduction of the last portion of broth, lay out the squid, mussels and mix well over the rice. 6. Protomiv at the very minimum temperature until the liquid is completely evaporated, introduce grated cheese into the risotto.
Risotto with vegetables - cooking tricks and useful tips
• Natural butter - on such a product it is desirable to fry rice. Use only olive oil for browning vegetables. In its absence, suitable and vegetable, but only the highest degree of purification.
• Do not let the rice boil intensely and cook only under the lid. Otherwise, the rice quickly boil up and instead of risotto get porridge. Ideally, when the contents of a frying pan are lifted up in “waves” when they are languishing on a small fire.
• Rice groats are only sorted out before using in risotto. Rinsing is not recommended so as not to wash out the starch needed for this dish.
