Turmeric Nutmeg Risotto

By October 21, 2014 Recipes No Comments
rsito

So.. Here’s the Risotto story! Hello again, by the way. Hope you’re in joy and wellness!

For those of you who know me, you might probably be asking why, lately, I am posting more of my cooked foods on my instagram account (@sophienavita) rather than my rawfood creations? As a rawfoodchef, why am i doing this? The answer in short: why not?

The long answer is ( seriously, do you have time for this? Haha) : I am a person who just loves listening to her body. You know the term ” my gut tells me..” Yeahh.. I go by my gut.. I just feel I am preparing myself for something new in front ( perhaps a new business? Can’t quite explain it in words just yet, but I know it) aaaannnnddd I feel that as a mother of two little handsome ogres ( they are really that handsome, but with the appetite of ogres) I need to up my game in the cooking world to create more diversity in my plantbased menus. So right now, all my cooking, I’m doing guided by my school ROUXBE cooking school where I taking certification as a plantbased chef. Go look them up. They’re SOLID! And I love their structure. And I love Chef Chad Sarno. ( did i just say that out loud? Well.. He is a great plantbased chef! Go look him up too!)
So, why post Risotto? Because I did not give much thought to this dish at first. Why would I? It’s just rice . Rice is a very common staple in the Indonesian culture. Indonesians eat chicken over rice. Fish over rice. Stews over rice. We even eat… Rice OVER RICE  It is THAT common! Why would I need to learn how to cook rice?
Alas, in every learning experience, i learned that to obtain the best results, one must drop all their self limitting beliefs, including my confidence that nobody can cook rice better than me ( being an Indonesian.. Hellooo??) and also I was consistantly challenged to expose my vegetables to heat (as a rawfood chef, THIS. IS. NOT. EASY)

So anyways.. Long story short, you will need:
– 1 cup Italian or Arborio rice
– 5 cups veggie stock (*)
– 1 cup diced carrots
– 1/2 cup peas
– 1/2 cup green beans ( i used red today)
– 1/2 cup red bell pepper
– 1 teaspoon grated tumeric
– 1 teaspoon coriander powder
– 1/2 teaspoon + a pinch nutmeg
powder ( or grated fresh nutmeg)
– pinch of clover powder or 3 whole cloves.
– 2 teaspoons paprika powder ( optional but definitely adds flavor)
– 1 teaspoon himalayan salt/ seasalt
– 1 teaspoon ground pepper
– 2 teaspoons minced garlic
– 1 tablespoon minced brown onion
– 1 bay leaf
– 2 kaffir lime leaves
And lotsa LOVE!

Mise en place

Mise en place

Like I always say, a good cook, gets his/ her mise en place ready!

Okay! Did you get your mise en place ready and in order? Let’s go then!

1. First, simmer the veggie stock and parcook the carrots, peas and green beans, taking turns to put them in the hot simmering pot for ONE minute them taking them out, and IMMEDIATELY put in an ice bath( a bowl filled with ice water or very cold water) this will stop the cooking process. Put aside. You might want to use a strainer for this so you don’t panic when you need to get your veggoes out.Look at the picture so you know what I mean.

The carrots are being parcooked in the simmering veggie stock with a strainer.2. On low heat, add a bit of water ( or coconut oil if you like, around 1/2 tbspn) and put in the onions and stir. Sweat the onions with the garlic, turmeric, nutmeg, coriander, bay leaf and kaffir lime leaves . I already wrot about how to sweat vegetables, please look at my En Papillote de tofu champignon recipe.3. Once sweating is done, add in 1/4 cup veggie stock and keep stirring, then put in rice and stir until all herbs and aromatics are even into the rice. When veggie stock has evaporated, pour in some more, per 1 cup,and stir until liquid evaporates again, add another cup veggie stock. At this step, you can crank up the heat a bit to medium, let it simmer, keep stirring. Add salt.

4. Test taste to see if the rice is done, it should taste just right. Not hardy and not mushy. This is why we cannot use our Indonesian rice, because it will turn into porridge. Whereas italian rice or arborio rice will still retain it’s rice shape. ( i bought mine at Ranch Supermarket. I bet they have some also at Kem chicks)

Rice should look like this

Rice should look like this

5. Once rice is done, fold back in all your carrots, peas, green beans after straining them from the ice bath.
Add in ground pepper.Stir and mixTurn of heat. Only now you can cover the pot with a lid for 5 minutes only( remember, heat off) and them open and fluff rice with a big spoon.

6. Before serving, add in the diced red bell peppers for color;))

And tadaaaaa… Risotto!!

(*) note:
Veggie stock is easy to make. Just use your veggie scraps or maybe new ones if you like and throw them in 2 liters of water. Here are some ideas for veggies I put in my stock: 1 brown onion, 1 almost old yellow bell pepper, 1 small red pepper, 1 cup chopped spring onions( daun bawang), 3 carrots( chopped into big pieces). I had some fennel, so I put that in, it was so good! A friend’s farm harvested them locally and gave me some:) so happy!
You can also put celery, parsley, tomatoes, cilantro( daun ketumbar) etc.. Oh the options are endless.
Simmer these veggies for 2-3 hours on low heat, of course before that, bring to boil first then lower heat to simmer.
You can use stock straight away, or cool down and then put into ice cube molds, keep in freezer for 3months:))

Okay, that’s it from me. Do tag me on my instagram @sophienavita if you ever make this Risotto! And don’t forget to check out my youtube videos at  http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RHf4rwdtNWw

See you in my next post! Toodle looo! Buonaappetito!

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