Risotto is a great dish to make on any day of the week and we regularly do. I love this recipe, the sun-dried tomatoes give the dish a deep, rich flavour, while the almond milk adds a delicious creamy texture and the walnuts create a subtle crunch in every bite. We usually make extra to freeze and enjoy later in the month on an evening we don't feel like cooking.
Serves 4, or 2 with leftovers & takes 45 minutes to cook
Ingredients
100g walnuts
1 onion, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
4 celery sticks (or carrots), finely chopped
1 jar of sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
350g risotto rice
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
1x 400g can of tinned tomatoes
1 vegetable stock cube
800ml almond milk (this should be the same as 2 cans full, see recipe below)
1 tablespoon of tamari
2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast (optional)
Handful of fresh basil, chopped
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C, fan setting.
2. Chop the walnuts into small pieces and place onto a baking tray. Cook for 6 minutes until golden, keeping an eye that they don't burn. Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to one side until needed.
3. Place a pan over a medium heat and add a good drizzle of olive oil (or the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes jar). Once warm, add the chopped onion, garlic, celery and a pinch of salt. Mix well and cook for 10 minutes until soft.
4. Once soft, add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and risotto rice. Mix well and cook for 2 minutes before adding the tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, stock cube, half of the almond milk (you can use the can from the tinned tomatoes to measure it out) and tamari.
5. Mix well and leave to cook for 30 minutes, adding the rest of the almond milk dash by dash as needed and constantly stirring every now and then to ensure the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
6. After 30 minutes, the rice should have become soft and absorbed all of the liquid. At this point, stir through the chopped walnuts (leaving a few for the top), the nutritional yeast (if using) and chopped basil. You can add a dash more almond milk if the mixture has become too thick.
7. Serve the risotto piping hot with a sprinkle of fresh herbs and a crack of black pepper on top.
8. Taste and season with salt and pepper before serving.
