I’m not sure if curry risotto is a socially acceptable concoction, but I just got a craving for it out of the blue one day, and came up with a dish that was more than just passable – it made me giggle with delight. While it sounds totally gross, it’s worthy of being labelled a guilty pleasure for a foodie 😛

I’ve been told this is basically a biryani made with arborio rice, but I beg to differ. With biryani, the rice and vegetables are cooked separately and combined just prior to finishing the dish. My curry risotto is cooked exactly as you’d cook any other risotto, just with curry spices and vegetables that go well in a curry.

Need any more convincing this recipe is worth a whirl? Just wait ’til your tastebuds are feeling adventurous, and have a crack at it… 😉

Flavour: Savoury & spicy

Serves: 2 as a main meal

Ingredients:

• 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped (see here for my tomato-peeling hack)
• 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
• 1 small onion, finely sliced
• 1 large clove garlic, finely minced
• 1 small potato, diced (I don’t peel the potato, but you can if you prefer)
• 1 small sweet potato, diced (definitely peel the sweet potato!)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• quarter teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon curry powder of your choice (I like to use a Madras blend)
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 cup arborio rice
• half cup of white wine
• quarter cup coconut milk
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• juice of half a lemon
• handful of chopped coriander
• 1 teaspoon non-dairy butter substitute
• generous grind of black pepper

Directions:

1. Prepare your tomatoes as per instructions here
2. Finely slice your onion, and sautee it in a large frying pan on a high heat with the sunflower oil until it turns translucent
3. Pop your stock on the stove on a high heat while you’re cooking those onions off
   • Amateur tip: make your own stock – here’s a recipe that’ll turn out great stock every time 😉
4. Turn the heat on your onions down to medium and add half of the salt – sautee until slightly browned
5. Mince your garlic, and stir it into your onions – turn heat down to low, and sautee until a golden brown colour
   • Amateur tip: see here for how to mince your garlic to a fine paste – it’s so simple, you’ll never go back to chunky chopped garlic!
6. Toss in your diced potatoes and sweet potatoes, stir through, and return heat to medium – cook for 5 minutes, stirring periodically
7. Stir in your turmeric powder and curry powder and cook for 1 more minute – you should get a waft of fragrant spice as the heat begins to toast your spice mix
8. Toss in your chopped tomatoes, stir through, and add the rest of the salt
9. Cook curry mixture over medium heat for 5 minutes or until it is reduced by a third
10. Stir in the carrots and zucchini, and cook for another 2 minutes
11. Stir the arborio rice into your curry mixture, whack the heat back up high again, and pour in half a cup of stock, your quarter cup of coconut milk, and and your half cup of white wine – stir gently
12. Once the liquid has reduced to next to nothing and the alcohol smell has gone, now you’re cooking – you need to stand beside your risotto as it cooks like a loyal guardian, stirring it regularly, and adding the stock a cup at a time (no need to be precise with this – just make sure you do actually do it gradually) until all of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked through
    • You’ll find the dedication to constant stirring a meditative act for sure 😛 (no, seriously – if you struggle to meditate, take this as your cue!) Your risotto will take 15-20 minutes to cook to perfection (use your discretion and don’t follow dogmatics who tell you “16 minutes; no more, no less”, because they don’t know your stove and the quality of your temperature control like you do 😉 )
13. Once your rice is cooked through but still al dente, turn the heat down to low and stir in your nutritional yeast, lemon juice and coriander
14. Take off the heat and sprinkle your butter over the top of your resting risotto in small blobs and grind as much black pepper over the top as you like, and leave it for a minute
15. When that minute is up, stir it all well in and you’ll be ready to serve
16. Your risotto should be creamy in texture, with a silky-smooth mouthfeel, and it should be wet enough to spread across your plate when you serve it up, but not so wet that it’s soupy – enjoy! ❤