It took me few rounds of eating risotto before I can say “I kinda like risotto”. The first time I cooked it, it didn’t turn out too good. The texture was off and I thought gosh…risotto can’t be that bad. Well, I didn’t get it right. Then few more rounds of messing with it, finally I know what they mean when they say creamy risotto.
Risotto is an Italian dish normally made with arborio or risotto rice. The fun part about cooking is that you can mix up, infuse, diffuse, etc ingredients to your heart content! I just happen to like fusion dishes a lot and so I thought I can create this Asian-style risotto. Turn out pretty delicious you guys! I added in some saffron threads and ohh…I love saffron btw. A little goes a long way. The rice is so fragrant. I added a bit of curry powder too. We think it’s delicious!!
ASIAN-STYLE RISOTTO
Ingredients
- 1 cup arborio/risotto rice
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 2 Tbsp peanut oil
- 1 onion (peeled and thinly sliced)
- 3 cloves of garlic (peeled and minced)
- 8 oz of boneless skinless chicken thighs (cut into small bite size) - feel free to substitute with any meat you like
- 1 green bell pepper (seeded and diced)
- 1 large carrot (peeled and diced)
- 1 tsp curry powder
- ¼ tsp saffron threads
- Few cilantro leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Pour the chicken stock in a small sauce pan and bring it to a boil and keep it simmer while you prepare the risotto
- Preheat a wok or large skillet with lid. Add in the oil. Tip in the onion, garlic and stir fry until fragrant. Add in the bell pepper, carrots, chicken and curry powder. Continue to stir fry until the chicken started to turn color. Add in the rice and saffron threads continue to stir fry the rice for about 1 minute. Pour in the hot stock a little by little (make sure it's hot, this is important to make nice creamy risotto) and continue to stir until the liquid is absorbed and the rice are tender. Have a taste, the rice shouldn't be hard in the middle
- Portion into serving plate and garnish with cilantro leaves. Serve warmed
