Dietary risotto with vegetables. Risotto with vegetables: variations, cooking methods

This dish was born in northern Italy and has spread almost throughout the world. It is prepared from round, starchy rice. The most suitable varieties are Carnaroli, Maratelli and Vialone Nano.

Depending on wishes and tastes, it can be fried in solid or liquid oils, as well as in animal fats. During the cooking process, add meat broth or boiled water in batches and stir constantly.

This is one of the main rules for preparing risotto. After the rice has been saturated with moisture, add the next portions of liquid, and so on until it is completely cooked. At the end, the desired seafood, meat, vegetables and even dried fruits are added.

To get an even more pasty consistency, whipped butter and Parmesan are added to the almost finished dish.

Classic recipe for risotto with vegetables

Risotto with vegetables is considered a Lenten dish, so during great holidays people who follow all the rules of fasting can cook it for a meal. To prepare it, you can use regular round rice if you don’t have special rice.

Shred the cabbage, peel the potatoes and onions. Boil the prepared products in one liter of boiling water for twenty minutes. Remove the vegetables and strain the vegetable broth through cheesecloth until it is clear.

Wash the carrots, zucchini and tomato and peel off the skin. We chop all the vegetables into cubes of the same size; first cut out the center and seeds of the tomato.

Sauté carrots in hot vegetable oil, then zucchini and tomatoes, the whole process takes eight minutes.

Add the washed rice and mix thoroughly until the mixture becomes homogeneous.

As soon as the rice becomes translucent, pour in a quarter cup of vegetable broth. Prepare the dish, stirring all the time.

When all the liquid is absorbed, add the same amount of broth.

This will continue for about twenty minutes until the risotto turns into a creamy mass.

Add some salt, crush with spices and turn off the gas.

Risotto with vegetables in a slow cooker: step-by-step recipe

Some chefs are convinced that high-quality and tasty risotto can only be prepared in an electric multicooker, arguing that this particular device has every opportunity to avoid overcooking the rice or adding excess liquid.

Components:

• Rice – 400 g;
• Zucchini – 1 pc.;
• Tomato – 1 pc.;
• Sweet pepper – 1 pc.;
• Leek – 1 pc.;
• Olive oil – 2 tbsp. l.;
• Provençal herbs – 1 package;
• Salt - to taste;
• Chicken breast – 200 g;
• Purified water – 1.5 l.;
• Cilantro - a couple of sprigs.

Cooking time: 90 minutes.

Calorie content: 119 Kcal/100 g.

Boil the chicken breast in salted water for about twenty minutes. We take out the meat and use it for any other dish, we only need broth. Wash the vegetables, clean them well and chop them into cubes.

We activate the unit for the frying function. Pour oil into a bowl and fry for ten minutes, add spices, salt and mix thoroughly. We wash the rice with water, add it to the vegetables and pour in three glasses of chicken broth, stir the whole mass and switch the device to the “Rice” function. We've been cooking for an hour.

Place hot on a flat plate and sprinkle with chopped cilantro. There is no need to stir the dish during the process; once at the beginning is enough. Thanks to the special coating in the electrical appliance, food will not burn.

This is the main difference from cooking in a frying pan - you fall asleep and forget.

Risotto with chicken and vegetables

You can find many different variations of preparing risotto, but this dish with vegetables and chicken or with vegetables and seafood is more popular in our restaurants. You can try both options in your home kitchen.

Components:

• Rice for risotto – 300 g;
• Asparagus – 200 g;
• Green beans – 150 g;
• Chicken fillet – 200 g;
• Spices - to taste;
• Sunflower oil – 2 tbsp. l;
• Purified water – 750 g;
• Marjoram - to taste;
• Pepper – half a pinch;
• Salt - to taste.

Cooking time: 55 minutes.

Calorie content: 172 Kcal/100 g.

We wash the meat and cut it into small slices. Fry in unrefined oil for fifteen minutes. Add asparagus and thawed green beans and continue to fry for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

We wash the rice in two waters. Add the ingredients to be cooked and fry for fifteen minutes, stirring constantly throughout the mixture. When the rice becomes almost transparent, start adding boiled cold water.

The dish will begin to stew and become saturated with moisture. When there is practically no unbound liquid left, add again, and so on three times. When you notice that the dish has a pasty consistency, sprinkle with seasonings and add some salt. Everything is ready, turn it off and let it cool.

Risotto with vegetables and mushrooms

The main ingredient of risotto is rice; all other products are added according to personal preferences. One of these components includes mushrooms. Any in stock will do.

Components:

• Rice – 300 g;
• Tomato – 2 pcs.;
• Carrots – 1 pc.;
• White onion – 1 pc.;
• Champignons – 300 g;
• Parmesan – 100 g;
• Butter – 100 g;
• Vegetable broth – 650 ml;
• Salt - to taste;
• Dill - a bunch.

Cooking time: 70 minutes.

Calorie content: 117 Kcal/100 g.

Soak the mushrooms in warm water to remove the dirt and make it easier to clean. We chop them into slices. Place in a deep saucepan and fry for seven minutes. We peel and chop the vegetables into half rings, the tomatoes into small cubes.

Place in a saucepan, stir and continue frying. Place the washed rice on top and heat-treat for ten minutes, constantly stirring with a wooden or special silicone spatula.

We begin to add three to four tablespoons of vegetable broth and stir, follow this scheme for about twenty minutes and wait until the rice becomes completely white.

1. To prepare risotto, it is recommended to use special rice, but if the desired varieties are not available, you can use regular round rice, but not steamed;
2. Parmesan cheese can be replaced with any other of the hard and semi-hard types; they melt well;
3. If you are planning to prepare a dish spontaneously, you can put bouillon cubes in the freezer in advance. Then it will be faster and easier to bring your plans to life. After all, you must admit that it doesn’t taste as good on water;
4. If you set out to get the true taste of an Italian dish, then you need to buy dry white wine and add it, alternating with the broth. Some experimenters even replace it with light beer;
5. There is no need to cook over high heat, otherwise the food will cook unevenly and the dish will be spoiled.

Enjoy your meal, dear readers of our site!

An easy, delicious risotto can be made with vegetables! Choose the best recipe from our selection.

Risotto has certain features: the rice cannot be washed so that the starch that gives the dish its special creamy consistency does not leave, and it must also be fried in olive oil before adding liquid.

• Glass of round rice
• Carrot
• Pair of tomatoes
• Bulb
• clove of garlic
• Green beans – 150 g
• Green peas – 100 g
• Broccoli – 150 g
• Dry white wine – 80 g
• Olive oil – 3 tbsp. l.
• Salt, ground black pepper

First, I chopped the onion and put it in heated olive oil.

I fried it a little, then crushed a clove of garlic with a knife and added it to the onion.

Next I sent small cubes of carrots.

Then I poured in the rice and, as I said, fried it.

She poured in the wine and, making the fire stronger, evaporated it.

I poured out the green beans.

And broccoli.

Cooked for about 10 more minutes. You can try!

Recipe 2, step by step: vegetable risotto with asparagus

• Rice 250 gr
• Asparagus 200 gr
• Frozen green peas 100 gr
• Leek 1 stalk
• Green onion 2-3 stalks
• Parsley (greens) 3-4 sprigs
• Celery 40 gr
• Bay leaf 3 pcs
• Butter 40 gr
• Parmesan cheese 80 gr
• Garlic 4 cloves
• Peppercorns 4-5 pcs
• Ground black pepper 1 tbsp
• Arugula 125 gr
• Sea salt to taste

Prepare the asparagus: cut off the rough ends of the stems, blanch the asparagus in boiling water for 3-5 minutes.

Place the blanched asparagus in ice water to prevent it from losing color.

Cut the asparagus using the siflé method, that is, into small pieces diagonally.

Cook vegetable broth for risotto: put celery root (cut into cubes), green onion stalks, parsley and bay leaf into a saucepan, add black peppercorns; cook the broth for about 30 minutes, add salt at the end of cooking, cover with a lid and let it brew for about 10 minutes, then strain the broth.

Peel the leek, take some of the white and green parts, cut into half rings. Chop the garlic. Melt the butter in a frying pan and sauté the onion and garlic until translucent.

Add the rice to the leek and stir quickly with a spatula to coat the rice.

Pour a couple of ladles of vegetable broth into the pan with the rice. When the broth has evaporated, add again and continue until the rice is cooked al dente.

Grate the Parmesan on a medium grater and add to the rice, mix gently with a wooden spatula and pour in one ladle of broth, mix again. Level the risotto with salt, add a little salt if necessary.

Blanch green peas in boiling water for about 3-4 minutes, remove with a slotted spoon. Divide the risotto into bowls, top with asparagus and green peas, season with ground black pepper, and serve with fresh arugula. Bon appetit!

Recipe 3: risotto with tomatoes and beans (with photo)

• Arborio rice 200 grams
• 1 medium size onion
• 1 medium sized carrot
• Celery root 50 grams
• Medium size garlic 2 cloves
• Green beans 100 grams
• 1 large tomato
• Parmesan cheese 50 grams
• Fresh parsley 2–3 sprigs
• Olive oil 3 tablespoons
• Salt to taste
• Ground black pepper to taste
• Hot vegetable broth or boiling water 0.5 liters

Using a knife, peel the onion and rinse thoroughly under running water. Place the vegetable on a cutting board and finely chop into cubes. Transfer the crushed component to a free plate.

Using a knife, peel the celery root and rinse under running water. Place the component on a cutting board and cut it into small cubes. Afterwards, transfer the chopped root to a clean plate.

Using a knife, peel the carrots and rinse thoroughly under running water. Place the root vegetable on a cutting board and cut into cubes, which are slightly larger in size than celery pieces. Transfer the chopped vegetable to a clean plate.

We wash the tomato under running water and place it in a deep bowl. Fill the container with hot water so that it completely covers the vegetable. Let it blanch for 3-4 minutes.

Then place the tomato on a cutting board, remove the peel with clean hands and, using a knife, cut the component into small cubes. Place the pieces back into the bowl, which we lightly rinse beforehand under running water.

Place the green beans on a clean plate and set aside to defrost to room temperature. But this is only if you use a frozen component. After this, place the beans on a cutting board and, using a knife, cut them into pieces no longer than 1.5-2 centimeters.

Place Parmesan cheese on a cutting board and cut into several pieces. This must be done so that later this component will be easier to grind in a blender. Place the cheese pieces into a free saucer.

Place the garlic on a cutting board and, lightly pressing it with the handle of a knife, remove the peel. After this, transfer the peeled cloves to a clean saucer.

We wash the parsley under running water, shake off excess liquid by weight and place it in a saucer with garlic.

Place parsley, garlic cloves and pieces of cheese into a blender bowl. At medium speed, grind all components for 1-2 minutes until smooth. We should get an almost dry mixture, slightly greenish in color, very aromatic.

Pour olive oil into a frying pan and place it over medium heat. When the oil is hot enough, turn the heat to less than medium and pour the chopped onion into the container. Stirring occasionally with a wooden spatula, fry the vegetable until soft and translucent. Immediately after this, salt and pepper the onion to taste, and mix everything again.

Now add chopped carrots, celery root and green beans to the pan. Mix everything with a spatula, cover the container with a lid and simmer the vegetables for 15 minutes.

After this time, remove the lid from the pan and add rice to the vegetables. Mix everything again and fry the rice cereal for 3-5 minutes so that it absorbs the oil and vegetable juice well.

Then pour vegetable broth or hot water into the pan, mix everything and bring to a boil. Immediately after this, cover the dish with a lid and cook until the rice has completely absorbed the liquid.

When the cereal is almost cooked, open the lid of the pan and add chopped tomatoes to the container. Mix everything again with the available equipment, cover everything with a lid and continue cooking the risotto for another 10 minutes. After this time, sprinkle the dish with a mixture of cheese, garlic and herbs, mix everything well with a spatula and immediately turn off the burner.

That's it, risotto with vegetables is ready!

Recipe 4: risotto with eggplant, mushrooms and peppers

• bell pepper – 50 gr
• eggplant – 100 gr
• garlic - 20 gr
• olives with pits - 100 g
• beef broth - 1000 ml
• dried thyme - 2 g
• zucchini - 100 gr
• champignon – 100 gr
• olive oil – 40 ml
• carnaroli rice - 200 gr
• basil - 5 g
• rosemary - 2 g

Cut vegetables into small cubes: zucchini, eggplant, paprika and mushrooms.

Peel and mash the garlic with a knife, and cut each clove into 4 parts.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wide saucepan, add the garlic and lightly fry until soft.

Add zucchini, eggplant, paprika, olives.

Fry vegetables for 3-5 minutes.

Wash the rice and fry it with vegetables for 3 minutes. Add 200 ml of hot broth, for a vegetarian option you can add just water, evaporate the broth, stirring constantly.

Evaporate it and add the broth again, adding 200 ml each time until completely used. With the last dose of broth, add spices: basil, thyme, rosemary. Add salt to taste if needed. Fry until cooked, but remember that the rice should remain slightly firm inside, but not raw.

Recipe 5, simple: risotto with frozen vegetables

• rice – 200 grams;
• frozen vegetables – 300 grams;
• ground sweet parika – 1 tsp;
• ground ginger – 1/3 tsp;
• salt;
• ground black pepper.

Heat a frying pan and add frozen vegetables. There is no need to defrost them first. If you use fresh vegetables, wash them and cut them into cubes, and pour a little water into the pan.

Rinse the rice under running water until the water runs clear and place it in the pan with the vegetables.

Pour water into a glass, add salt and mix well. You will season vegetables and rice with this saline solution.

Add some water and salt into the pan a little at a time and simmer the vegetables with rice, stirring them from time to time. When you see that all the water has evaporated, pour in a little more, and continue to do so until the dish is ready.

Season the vegetable risotto with ground black pepper, sweet paprika and ginger. And simmer until fully cooked. When the rice is soft, the dish is ready. Do not simmer the rice longer, otherwise it will turn into porridge and will not be crumbly.

Recipe 6: Risotto with soy sauce and vegetables

• Rice - 2 cups.
• Soy sauce - approximately 100 ml.
• Zucchini squash - 250 g.
• Sweet capsicum - 1 piece.
• Carrot - 1 piece.
• Onion - 20-50 g (half an onion)
• Olive oil - approximately 4 tablespoons.

Boil the rice until it remains firm. To do this, rinse the rice thoroughly and fill it with hot water in a saucepan. The water should cover the top of the rice by a couple of mm. No need to salt the rice!
Cook the rice uncovered over medium heat until all the water is absorbed.

Cut the carrots into small cubes. We also cut the zucchini into cubes without peeling them.

Chop the onion. We clean the sweet pepper from seeds and tail, and also cut it into small cubes.

Pour olive oil into a frying pan, add chopped vegetables, stir. No need to salt!

Fry the vegetables for the risotto over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Then add rice to the vegetables and mix.

Pour soy sauce over the rice and vegetables and mix again. Let's try. If there is not enough salt from soy sauce, add salt to taste. And fry the risotto for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

That's all, delicious risotto with vegetables and soy sauce is ready!

Recipe 7: Turkey risotto with vegetables in a slow cooker

Risotto in a slow cooker turns out beautiful, healthy and very tasty.

In addition to vegetables, we will need rice (basmati or regular long grain) and meat. Pork or chicken will do. Rice and vegetable dishes go very well with turkey steaks.

• Eggplants,
• bell pepper,
• Broccoli,
• Turkey,
• Celery root,
• Carrot,
• Cherry tomatoes,
• Vegetable oil,
• Salt,
• Spices,
• Green beans,
• Garlic

Boil the steaks in advance in a small amount of water, place in a colander, and remove the meat.

If the meat and broth are prepared in advance, then it will take 40-45 minutes to prepare the risotto itself.

Let's prepare the vegetables. Onions, carrots and celery root are fresh. Bell peppers and eggplants – dried. Green beans, broccoli and cherry tomatoes – frozen.

We cut onions, carrots and celery into strips, soak peppers and eggplants in warm boiled water, or together in one container.

Pour a few tablespoons of vegetable oil into the multicooker bowl (or cauldron), when it warms up, put the onions, carrots and celery there. Close the lid and fry for 10 minutes.

Add the meat and continue frying with the lid on. If we cook with raw meat, then first fry the portioned pieces until golden brown, then rake them aside, lay them out and fry the onions and roots.

After another 10 minutes, without defrosting, lay out the beans, broccoli and tomatoes, dump out the peppers and eggplants along with the water in which they were soaked. Close the lid and wait another 5 minutes.

In risotto, unlike pilaf, there should be approximately equal amounts of meat, vegetables and rice. So one glass of dry long grain rice is enough for us. We will salt with sea salt and Provençal herbs; we will also add a dry aromatic mixture with basil and coriander for flavor.

Add rice.

Pour in the broth, salt, add spices. Let it boil, and then switch the cauldron to minimum heat, and the multicooker to the Pilaf or Groats mode and cook for 15-25 minutes. Thin basmati rice cooks the fastest; regular long grain rice takes a little longer.

Finally, add a mixture of salt and spices for meat and a couple of cloves of garlic.

All the vitamins of summer, the tastes and aromas of Provence in a hearty risotto that took us less than an hour to prepare.

Recipe 8: Vegetable risotto with white wine (step by step)

• rice - 500 gr
• dry white table wine - 1 glass
• Russian cheese – 200 gr
• olive oil - 100 gr
• onions - 3 pcs
• celery - 100 gr
• salt - 1 tbsp.
• ground black pepper - 1 tsp.
• ground ginger - ½ tsp.
• carrots - 2 pcs.
• Mexican mixture - 500 gr
• garlic - 3 cloves
• butter - 150 g

Risotto requires some preliminary preparation.

Boil one liter of salted vegetable broth from celery, one onion and one carrot.

While the broth is cooking: - cut the rest of the onion into rings; - coarsely chop or break the cheese; - fry all the garlic and spices in half the heated olive oil with the addition of no more than a third of the butter.

Remove the garlic and fry the Mexican mixture in this fragrant oil until half cooked, adding boiled carrots and herring from the cooked vegetable broth, cut into similar cubes, into the frying pan.

When the roasted vegetables and broth are ready, let's start cooking the risotto itself.

Pour the second half of the olive oil and half of the remaining butter into a hot saucepan and heat. Cook over medium heat. Add chopped onion into rings. The onions should be soaked in oil, soft and golden, but NOT fried.

Add rice. Stir well, but carefully, without destroying the grains. When the rice is evenly saturated with oil and changes color to golden, i.e. In two or three minutes, pour in the wine.

Stir constantly for a few more minutes, not allowing the rice to stick. The wine must be absorbed, the alcohol must evaporate. Reduce the heat and, stirring, pour in the broth in portions so that the rice is lightly covered with broth. Cook for twenty minutes.

5 minutes before the end of cooking, add the fried vegetables.

Add pieces of cheese. Stir. Let the cheese melt, continuing to stir, distribute the vegetables and cheese throughout the almost finished risotto.

Ideally, the grains of rice in a risotto should triple in size and be soft on the outside but barely firm on the inside, as if they had a tiny seed in them. Turn off the fire. Let the rice “rest” for five minutes and add the remaining butter.

We lay it out and decorate it. Bon appetit!

Recipe 9: dietary risotto with chicken and vegetables

The classic risotto recipe involves using white rice, but here we used brown rice, which is healthier.

• shallots – 120 g;
• tomatoes – 300 g;
• carrots – 120 g;
• chicken (boneless meat) – 400 g;
• brown rice – 100 g;
• garlic – 4 teeth;
• olive oil – 15 g;
• chicken or vegetable broth - 1 l;
• dill, salt, poultry spice mixture, chili pepper.

First, prepare a thick paste of tomatoes, onions, garlic and spices. Heat 5 g of olive oil, add coarsely chopped shallots and pressed garlic. When the onion becomes transparent, add the diced tomatoes, add 2 teaspoons of the spice mixture, and simmer the vegetables over medium heat for 10 minutes. For spiciness and piquancy, add a small chili pepper, finely chopped; if you don’t like spicy food, you don’t need to do this.

Separately, fry the carrots, cut into large strips, until golden brown.

Cut boneless chicken meat into large pieces. Quickly fry the pieces in a very hot frying pan.

Place the fried meat, sautéed carrots, tomato and onion puree in a wide-bottomed saucepan or roasting pan.

Add brown rice thoroughly washed in cold water.

Pour half the amount of chicken or vegetable broth. Place the dish on the fire, after boiling, cover with a lid and cook for 35 minutes.

During the cooking process, mix the ingredients and, as the liquid evaporates, add broth. The result should be a thick mass and quite a lot of sauce; at the end, add salt to taste.

Serve risotto with chicken and vegetables hot, sprinkle with fresh herbs - dill or cilantro, whatever you like.

Cooking secrets

Risotto is one of the culinary symbols of Northern Italy, like pizza and spaghetti. This dish appeared by chance, thanks to the absent-mindedness of the cook, who was preparing rice soup, but forgot about it, and all the broth evaporated. Surprisingly, the cook found delicious rice in the pan, like the most delicate cream, with pieces of vegetables and meat. The first recipes for Italian risotto appeared in the 16th century, and now there are about a thousand ways to prepare this dish. All of them are prepared according to the same scheme: rice is fried in oil with onions, filled with broth or water, stewed, then vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, meat or seafood are added to it, and the ingredients may change. Sometimes, for a creamy texture, grated cheese mixed with butter is added to the dish at the end of cooking. You don't have to go to Italy to try Italian dishes, you can do it at home! So, let's talk about how to cook at home.

The best broth for risotto

Italian housewives prepare risotto in a maximum of 20 minutes, but they prepare all the ingredients for the dish in advance, such as broth. Risotto can be cooked in fish, beef and vegetable broth, but classic risotto recipes use chicken broth, boiled in good water with vegetables and spices. The flavor of the chicken goes perfectly with the rice!

It is better to cook chicken in well-purified drinking water with the addition of carrots, onions, stalked celery, parsley root, green pea pods, leeks, juniper, white or black peppercorns. And of course, don’t forget about the bouquet garni, which includes three essential components - parsley, thyme and bay leaf, diluted with tarragon, basil, rosemary, thyme and savory. These seasonings can be added dried or fresh, and it is better to salt the broth with sea salt - it’s tastier and healthier.

The broth is prepared in the usual way: place the chicken in cold and lightly salted water, after boiling, reduce the heat, skim off the foam, add vegetables and spices and simmer for about 2 hours over low heat. 30 minutes before it’s ready, pour in a little dry white wine, and a couple of minutes before it’s ready, put bunches of greens into the pan. Then you need to cool and strain the broth. Using this recipe, you can also prepare broths from other products, just changing the cooking time, because vegetables and mushrooms cook faster.

Soft on the outside, hard on the inside

There are several hundred varieties of rice in the world, but only three varieties are intended for risotto - Arborio, Carnaroli and Vialone Nano. These medium-grain starchy varieties have a unique feature - they contain two types of starch. The starch on the surface becomes soft very quickly, so when cooked, the grains acquire a creamy consistency on the outside. The starch filling the core of the grain remains hard even after long cooking, so the rice turns out soft on the outside and dense on the inside. This is its highlight. Under no circumstances should you rinse rice before placing it in water, otherwise the surface layer will be damaged and you will end up with rice porridge instead of risotto. When choosing rice in a store, you can safely buy a package called “Risotto Rice.” Most likely, this is arborio, since other varieties are difficult to find in Russian stores. However, Arborio rice is very good and beautiful, looking like freshwater pearls. The quality of the rice is very important because it is what holds the dish together. By the way, about proportions - for 100 g of rice you need to take about 500 ml of broth.

A few words about products for risotto

The classic cheese for risotto is hard, grainy Parmesan or Grana Padano; the wine must be white and dry. It is recommended to use only butter, since risotto is a dish of the northern Italian regions, and olives grow in the south, however, in modern recipes it is allowed to use a combination of butter and olive oil. Naturally, the oil should have a fat content of 82.5%.

It is better to take yellow and white onions, not red; they should be cut very finely so that they do not introduce disharmony into the creamy consistency of the dish. Another important component of risotto is saffron. This ingredient is mentioned in recipes for risotto alla Milanese. You only need to purchase it in a store, and in its entirety, despite the fact that at the oriental bazaar sellers offer to buy a glass of saffron for 300 rubles. This should under no circumstances be done, because the true cost of the spice is $10 per gram, and this gram will be enough for more than 40 risottos. To prepare the dish, use an infusion of saffron, for which several stamens are poured with hot broth and left for 30 minutes until the liquid acquires an orange tint. Another option is to dissolve saffron in wine.

Important points for preparing risotto

First, onions and other vegetables are fried in a frying pan until soft and transparent, but without forming a golden brown crust. Then pour in the rice and stir with the vegetables for half a minute, then pour in the wine, and the stirring process continues until the liquid is absorbed into the rice. Next, add one ladle of hot broth, while stirring the rice vigorously until it absorbs the liquid. When half of the broth remains, the main ingredient is added to the rice - saffron water, as well as mushrooms, seafood, meat or the necessary vegetables, then the broth is poured again in parts (while stirring). Exactly 17 minutes from the start of cooking, the frying pan is removed from the heat; it should remain completely undisturbed for 2 minutes so that the rice can rest and cool slightly. Finally, cubes of cold butter and grated cheese are placed on the rice, after which the risotto is well kneaded or shaken to distribute the butter and cheese evenly.

Constantly stirring the rice is an important condition for preparing the right risotto, and to make it work, prepare all the ingredients in advance, and then you won’t have to be distracted by onions or cheese. By the way, Italians do not add cheese to seafood risotto, believing that they do not go well together. You should be careful with salt and pepper when preparing risotto, since well-aged cheeses have a salty and spicy taste. Before cooking, taste the dish and, if necessary, add salt.

How to make risotto especially delicious: secrets from the chef

If you are making risotto with chicken broth, add a little tarragon to the pan while cooking the chicken, and dill is good for making seafood broth. These seasonings improve the taste of the dish and make the risotto incredibly fragrant. You can put the chicken soup set for broth in the oven for 5 minutes and then cook the broth from it, which will turn out strong, tasty and golden. The same can be done with vegetables for broth - keep them in the oven or in a hot frying pan until lightly charred.

It is better to crush the peppercorns before cooking, then the aroma will be especially bright. By the way, to make the broth low-calorie, it is recommended to cool it and skim off the congealed fat.

All products for risotto must be of the highest quality, so you should not use wine for the broth just because it turned out to be too sour, or add dried cheese to the rice.

Another feature of the dish is its versatility, because each Italian region cooks it differently, so there are many recipes for how to prepare risotto. Instead of dry white wine, feel free to add dessert or sparkling wines, replace classic hard cheese with soft or blue cheeses, and use creamy cheeses, cream or olive oil as a butter substitute.

Experiments with risotto

In ancient recipes for this dish one could find egg yolks, sausage, sugar, milk and bread crumb, but even now chefs like to experiment with risotto. For example, if you add green peas to a dish, you get a Venetian version. Some Milanese cooks fry onions and garlic with bone marrow, and during the Renaissance this dish was served with ox marrow, making risotto a delicacy.

With asparagus, artichokes, cauliflower, celery and zucchini it is considered a dietary dish - you can add lemon juice to it for piquancy and freshness. Risotto often becomes a filling for pies; it is also used as stuffing for tomatoes, eggplants and peppers, and it is also cooked in the oven as a casserole. Avocado, tomatoes, carrots, beans, sausages, cervelat and other products are also added to this dish.

Risotto can be prepared for dessert by boiling rice in milk or berry broth, and then adding fruits, berries, dried fruits and nuts to it. Sweet risotto with pumpkin, chocolate or chestnuts is very tasty.

Step-by-step risotto recipe

So, you've mastered the theory, now try making classic Milanese risotto with saffron and white wine. All details are described above, so the recipe is given without details.

Ingredients: chicken broth - 5.5 cups, risotto rice - 360 g, dry white wine - 120 ml, onion - 1 pc., butter - 30 g, champignons - 150 g, olive oil - 2 tbsp. l., Parmesan - 120 g, saffron - 1 pinch, salt - to taste, ground black pepper - to taste.

Cooking method:

1. Add saffron to the wine.

2. Bring the broth to a boil and cover with a lid.

3. Finely chop the onion, chop the mushrooms medium-sized and fry in olive oil until softened, this will take about 5 minutes. The onion should retain its color.

4. Add the rice to the onions and stir well for a minute.

5. Pour the saffron wine into the rice, reduce the heat and cook, stirring, until the rice has completely absorbed the wine.

6. Add one ladle of broth to the rice and stir again until absorbed. So pour in a ladle of broth until it runs out. On average, rice takes about 25 minutes to cook; when cooked, it resembles something between a second rice dish and rice soup from which all the liquid has boiled away.

7. Season with salt and pepper, add diced cold butter and grated Parmesan. Stir and serve.

Your family will certainly appreciate Italian risotto, and when you learn how to cook a classic version of the dish, pay attention to other risotto recipes, photos and descriptions of which are published on our website.

Risotto with porcini mushrooms

Mushroom risotto has an appetizing appearance and an extraordinary aroma. Cook 2 liters of chicken broth with carrots, onions and spices. Bring 60 g of dry porcini mushrooms to a boil in a glass of chicken broth and let them brew for half an hour. Chop the swollen mushrooms, strain the liquid, pour back into the broth and bring to a boil.

In 2-3 tbsp. l. olive oil, fry the finely chopped onion until translucent, add 300 g of arborio rice into the pan and fry, stirring, for 3 minutes. Pour in a glass of dry white wine and simmer while stirring for another 3 minutes. Place the mushrooms in the rice, pour in 2 more ladles of broth and cook until the liquid is absorbed. Gradually add broth and stir for 18-20 minutes. Remove the rice from the heat, let it sit for a minute, and then add 40 g of butter and 100 g of grated Parmesan. Serve the risotto on warm plates, garnished with fresh herbs.

Risotto with mushrooms, kale and bacon

Risotto cannot be cooked in water, but vegetable, meat, chicken, and fish broth is suitable - the richer it is, the richer the taste of risotto.

Risotto with asparagus and Parma ham

If the asparagus is not very young, cook it in boiling water for a few minutes before adding it to the rice. The remaining onion puree will keep well in

In Italy they love not only pasta. Rice dishes are no less popular. One of them is risotto with vegetables. This option is the easiest and most useful. But if you want to make the dish more satisfying, you can add a protein component - pieces of meat, chicken or minced meat. Here are several proven recipes for preparing the dish.

Not every home cook can prepare risotto correctly. If you don’t know the intricacies of cooking, you can end up with ordinary rice porridge. First of all, you need to choose the right rice; in Italy, Arborio, Vialone nano and Carnaroli varieties are used for this dish.

Arborio rice can be bought in our country; it is often sold in cereal packages labeled “for risotto.” But it’s problematic to buy the other two varieties from us. As a last resort, you can use Krasnodar short-grain rice, but varieties with elongated grains will not work.

An essential component of the dish is onion; it is fried in a fairly large amount of oil over low heat. In this case, the onion should be very finely chopped. When the onion becomes translucent, add rice to it. The cereal must be fried, otherwise the grains will not retain their shape.

At the second stage, dry white wine and broth are added to the rice. The liquid is added in portions, and the next portion is added when the previous one has already been absorbed.

At the last stage, cheese, cream, and butter are added. But these ingredients are not required.

Interesting facts: rice began to be grown in India, and was brought to Italy for medicinal purposes. It was only in the 14th century that food began to be prepared from rice. After some time, this crop began to be cultivated in Italy, and then rice became available to all segments of the population.

Classic recipe for risotto with vegetables

It must be said that it is difficult to give exactly the classic recipe for risotto, since in each locality this dish is prepared differently. Let's give one of the options.

• 300 gr. rice;
• 1 liter of vegetable broth;
• 200 gr. Luke;
• 200 gr. ;
• 400 gr. zucchini;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 100 dry white wine;
• 60 ml olive oil;
• 50 gr. butter;
• 50 gr. fresh parsley;
• 20 gr. fresh basil;
• 200 gr. green peas (fresh or fresh frozen);
• 50 gr. hard cheese, preferably Parmesan;
• salt and black pepper to taste.

We clean and wash all vegetables. Cut the onion into very thin slices. Carrots - in small cubes, zucchini - in cubes, twice the size of carrots.

Advice! To prepare risotto, you need to take only young zucchini; they have more tender pulp and undeveloped seeds.

Chop the garlic into very small pieces. Heat vegetable oil (about 40 ml) in a frying pan. Fry half of the prepared onion and all the garlic in oil. After 5 minutes of frying, add carrots to the onions and continue frying for another five minutes.

• 200 gr. rice;
• 200 gr. chicken fillet;
• 1 onion;
• 1 carrot;
• 1 stalk of celery;
• 1 clove of garlic;
• 100 gr. peeled green beans (can be frozen);
• 150 ml dry white wine;
• 300 ml chicken broth;
• 40 gr. hard cheese.

Peel and wash all vegetables. Chop the onion very thinly, grate the carrots for preparing Korean salads, cut the garlic into slices, and the celery root into slices.

Take a frying pan with high sides. Heat vegetable oil in it and fry the garlic slices in it. When the vegetable releases its aroma into the oil, remove it with a slotted spoon and discard it.

Place carrots in oil and fry for two minutes. Cut the chicken fillet into small slices. Place the fillet with the carrots and fry for 3-4 minutes. Fry, stirring, until the fillet changes color; no need to achieve a golden brown crust.

Add onion and celery to the meat. Fry for another three minutes. Then add the rice and continue to fry for several minutes, stirring constantly.

Pour the wine into the frying pan and let it evaporate completely. Add green beans, cut into small pieces. If the beans are frozen, then there is no need to defrost, just pour the beans into the pan from the bag.

Now we begin to add the broth. Add little by little. Add each subsequent portion of broth when there is no more liquid left in the pan. Cook the rice until al dente; the grains should be slightly firm inside. Place the dish on plates and sprinkle with grated cheese.

Tip: You can prepare risotto with vegetables and meat in the same way. The meat should be cut into thin strips, like beef stroganoff. Or you can make risotto with vegetables and minced meat.

Risotto with vegetables and mushrooms

Another interesting option is risotto with vegetables and. This version of the dish can be made lean, or you can add butter and cheese to the composition, it will turn out even tastier.

• 300 gr. rice;
• 2 liters of broth (chicken, vegetable, mushroom);
• 300 gr. champignons;
• 100 gr. butter;
• 100 ml dry white wine;
• 1 leek stalk;
• 1 onion;
• 1 carrot;
• 1 clove of garlic;
• 80 gr. grated hard cheese;
• 2 tablespoons olive oil;
• salt, pepper, ground paprika - to taste.

Wash and peel the vegetables and mushrooms. Cut the champignons into small slices. Fry the mushrooms in vegetable oil for five minutes. Season the mushrooms with ground paprika, pepper and salt.

• 1 cup rice;
• 150 gr. boiled-frozen shrimp, small shrimp are ideal for this dish;
• 50 gr. green peas;
• 1 carrot;
• 1 parsnip;
• 2 sprigs of basil;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 3 tablespoons olive oil;
• 50 gr. butter;
• salt, nutmeg, black pepper to taste.

Pour boiling water over the shrimp, after five minutes drain the water and remove the shells from the shrimp. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan. Crush the peeled garlic cloves with the flat side of a knife and fry them in oil. As soon as the garlic is browned, throw it away. The job of garlic is to impart its aroma to the oil.

Cut the parsnips and carrots into small cubes, fry the vegetables in aromatic oil. The vegetables should brown a little and become soft. Add frozen or fresh green peas. Salt, pepper and add nutmeg.

Add rice to the vegetables, fry it, stirring for several minutes. Then pour in the broth in small portions.

Pour in each portion of the broth when the previous portion has evaporated. Add broth until the rice is cooked al dente. Add peeled shrimp to the finished risotto and season the dish with butter.

I really love the sticky texture of the rice in risotto, which sets this dish apart from any other rice dish. Of course, you should choose a special type of rice for risotto, then you are guaranteed the result - excellent risotto! It is best to take round-grain rice of the Arborio, Carnaroli and Vialone nano varieties.

Risotto is prepared with various additional ingredients. My favorite dish options are with mushrooms and vegetables. Today I invite you to cook with me risotto with vegetables according to a classic recipe. The dish turns out to have a delicate texture, aromatic, satisfying and low-calorie!

Let's prepare all the ingredients to prepare a classic risotto with vegetables.

First, let's prepare all the vegetables. Chop carrots, celery, leeks, zucchini and bell pepper.

Heat 1 tbsp in a frying pan. olive oil, fry the vegetables over high heat for 7-10 minutes, stirring.

In another pan, heat the remaining olive oil. Heat the rice in the oil, stirring, for 3-4 minutes, until the rice becomes transparent. Add 200 ml of vegetable broth or lay out a vegetable bouillon cube and add 200 ml of boiling water.

Cook the rice until the liquid has evaporated.

After this, transfer the rice into the pan with the vegetables.

Add green frozen peas (no need to defrost them first). Pour in the remaining 300 ml of broth and cook the classic risotto with vegetables, stirring until Al Dente, when the rice is already soft on the outside, but remains firm on the inside. This will take 10-15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let the dish sit for 5-7 minutes.