Risotto with vegetables

Italian cuisine cannot be imagined without risotto - rice dishes, which are prepared using a completely unique technology. Risotto is considered a self-sufficient dish, and although Italians often make it with chicken or seafood, it does not require any additions. Moreover, many prefer the risotto with vegetables - the easiest and most beneficial. In order to try this dish, it is not necessary to go to Italy or go broke to visit an Italian restaurant - if you know some of the subtleties of the risotto with vegetables, any hostess in her kitchen can cook.

Cooking Features

The technology of cooking risotto with vegetables has several specific features. They need to know to cook the real risotto with vegetables, identical to that prepared by Italians.

The most important thing is to choose suitable rice for risotto. Only high-starch varieties are suitable for this dish. Italians themselves prefer such varieties as carnaroli, Maratelli, Vialone Nano, and Arborio. However, in practice they can be replaced by Krasnodar round grain rice, which is almost in no way inferior to these expensive varieties. But long-grain rice for risotto will not work.
Italians never washed rice intended for making risotto in order to keep starch on its surface.
An important component of the dish is the onion, which is fried in a pan before it is put rice. It is important that it is very finely chopped, and when roasted it becomes transparent. This can be done only if you fry the onions on low heat in a sufficient amount of oil.
Rice at the first stage of cooking is also fried. This is necessary so that he subsequently retains his form and looks appetizing.
In the second stage, white dry wine is almost always added to the rice, which is designed to balance the starchy taste of the risotto.
In the third stage, warm water or, better still, broth is poured into rice in small portions. Moreover, a new portion is added only after the previous one is fully absorbed.
At the last stage, finely grated hard cheese (for example, Parmesan), butter, and cream are most often added. However, these ingredients are not considered mandatory and are not always included in the recipe, so vegetarians can well afford risotto with vegetables.

Risotto in Italy has been cooking for several centuries. During this time, many recipes have appeared, quite different from each other. Therefore, when preparing this dish, one should first of all be guided by the instructions in the recipe itself, and only in their absence should one be guided by the general rules.

Classic recipe for risotto with vegetables

Composition:

rice - 0, 3 kg;
vegetable broth - 1 l;
onions - 0, 2 kg;
carrots - 0, 2 kg;
zucchini - 0, 4 kg;
garlic - 2 cloves;
dry white wine - 100 ml;
olive oil - 60 ml;
butter - 50 g;
fresh parsley - 50 g;
fresh basil - 20 g;
green peas (fresh or frozen) - 0, 2 kg;
Parmesan cheese - 50 g;
salt, ground pepper - to taste.

Preparation Method:

Peel the onions, cut them as small as possible.
Cut the cleaned carrot into cubes about half a centimeter.
Wash the zucchini, cut the stem. Cut into cubes about a centimeter in size. For risotto, it is better to take young zucchini, in which there are no large seeds, and the skin is very thin and tender. If you have not too young zucchini, you will have to peel it, cut it in half, remove the seeds with a spoon and then cut it.
Cut the garlic into small pieces.
In a frying pan, heat 40 ml of olive oil, fry half the onion and garlic. After 5-6 minutes, add carrots to them and fry them with the same amount.
Add zucchini and green peas. If peas are frozen, defrosting them is not necessary. Season the vegetables, season with salt. Add greens finely chopped with a knife. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. If necessary, you can add a little vegetable broth, so that vegetables do not stick, and stewed.
Heat the remaining olive oil in a clean pan by mixing it with cream, taken in an amount of 10 g.
Put the remaining onion into the oil mixture. Fry it on low heat for 3-4 minutes.
Put rice on the onion, fry it for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Pour in the wine.
When the wine has evaporated, bring the rice to the state of “al dente”, adding warm vegetable broth to it in small portions.
Mix rice with vegetables, add finely grated cheese and the remaining butter, mix well.

Serve the dish hot. If necessary, the cheese from the recipe can be eliminated, and butter replaced with olive. Then the risotto for this recipe will be vegetarian.

Risotto in a multicooker

Composition:

rice - 0, 2 kg;
green beans - 100 g;
zucchini - 100 g;
sweet pepper - 100 g;
green peas - 100 g;
onions - 100 g;
carrots - 100 g;
tomato - 150 g;
olive oil - 50 ml;
vegetable broth - 0, 5 l;
salt, spices - to taste.

Preparation Method:

Wash zucchini and pepper, cut into cubes. Mix with green peas and beans. If desired, you can use the finished frozen mixture, in this case, the vegetables before cooking is not thawed.
Remove the husks from the bulb. Cut the onion into very small pieces.
Boil the tomato, peel and dice.
Peel the carrots and chop them on a grater with small holes.
Pour oil into the multicooker bowl and activate the “Frying” program for 10 minutes. If such a program is not provided, it can be replaced by the program “Baking”.
A couple of minutes after turning on the unit, place onions and carrots in the multicooker bowl. Fry them for about 5 minutes, then add the tomatoes and wait until the right time has elapsed.
Pour the remaining vegetables into the multicooker bowl and run it for 15 minutes by selecting the “Quenching” program.
Fry the rice in a frying pan in a small amount of olive oil for 5 minutes, transfer it to the multicooker container with the vegetable mixture.
Pour in the broth, add salt and pepper. Start the slow cooker for 20 minutes by activating the “Rice” program or similar to it (“Pilaf”, “Kasha”).

You can serve risotto with vegetables as a separate dish or as a side dish for boiled fish.

Risotto with frozen vegetables

Composition:

rice - 0, 2 kg;
frozen vegetable mix - 0, 5 kg;
paprika - 5 g;
nutmeg - 2-3 g;
salt, pepper mixture - to taste;
olive oil - 50 ml;
warm water - 0.75 l.

Preparation Method:

Dissolve salt in warm water, add pepper, paprika, nutmeg. Stir.
Pour oil into a deep frying pan and heat it. Put rice in it and fry it for 2-3 minutes.
Sprinkle, without thawing, vegetables. Roast them for 5-7 minutes with the rice, without adding water.
Gradually, adding half a glass and stirring, add water. Do not forget that before you pour in a new portion of water, you must wait until the previous portion is absorbed.
When all the water is absorbed - risotto with frozen vegetables is ready, it can be laid out on plates.

Most often, a vegetable mix “Mexican” or a mixture for a saute is used for cooking risotto with vegetables.

Vegetable risotto is a hearty but not heavy meal. It certainly will appeal to those who monitor their health. If you can’t imagine a meal without meat or fish, risotto with vegetables can be used instead of a side dish.

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