Risotto is an Italian dish with rice, which is somewhat reminiscent of our pilaf, but is prepared in a slightly different way.
There are many interesting recipes and some of them without meat. In fact, there are a lot of lean versions of risotto, the best of them are collected here.
Lean Risotto - General Cooking Principles
Rice for risotto is usually used large. With small varieties, the dish is not very tasty and beautiful. A distinctive feature of the dish is roasting cereal in oil before cooking. But in some recipes, this moment is omitted, raw rice is laid immediately to the rest of the ingredients.
What do lean dishes prepare:
• mushrooms;
• fresh, dried, canned vegetables;
• beans, peas and other legumes;
• fruits, dried fruits, nuts.
Spices are always added to the risotto. Italian herbs, paprika and other types of pepper, garlic, greens fit perfectly into the dish. Risotto is usually cooked in a dish in which you can fry. This is a cauldron, a stewpan, a frying pan. Some recipes require the use of several types of dishes at the same time.
Lean risotto with fresh mushrooms (a simple recipe)
A variant of not only delicious, but also very fragrant and simple risotto with fresh mushrooms from a minimum amount of ingredients. If there are no mushrooms, then you can take forest mushrooms for the dish, but before that you need to boil them.
Ingredients
• 300 g of champignons;
• a glass of rice;
• 200 g of onion;
• spices and butter.
Cooking
1. Cut the onion into cubes, put in a pan with 3-4 tablespoons of any oil. Fry for one minute.
2. During this time, cut the mushrooms into slices, put in the onion, turn on the strongest fire and fry together for another five minutes.
3. Rinse the rice with cold water, remove the spoiled grains.
4. Put rice in another pan, fry with a few drops of oil for about three minutes.
5. Add salt and various aromatic spices to the mushrooms (you can just herbs and seasoning for pilaf), stir, cover the rice.
6. Pour 2 cups boiling water. Cover the pan with a tight lid. Reduce the heat to a minimum.
7. Cook the lean risotto for 25 minutes, then leave it on the warm stove for another 15 minutes.
8. Stir before serving, sprinkle with herbs.
Lean Risotto with Vegetables
A recipe for a very juicy risotto with simple vegetables that can be found in any home. You can add spices to your taste.
Ingredients
• 1.5 cups of rice;
• 2 carrots;
• 1 large bell pepper;
• 25 grams of olive or sunflower oil;
• 2 onion heads;
• 1 tsp tomato paste;
• 1 tsp mixes of spices for pilaf;
• salt, laurel, herbs for serving.
Cooking
1. Cut peeled onions into strips. Put the butter in a cauldron or in a deep saucepan, heat, add onion, start frying.
2. Peel both carrots. Now they need to be cut into thin strips or grated for Korean salads. Add to the onion.
3. Once the vegetables are fried, add a teaspoon of tomato paste. She will give the risotto a richer color.
4. We fall asleep spices for pilaf, throw a couple of pinch of salt, mix and warm to reveal the taste of seasoning.
5. Cut the bell pepper into strips, put it in the dish.
6. Immediately add washed rice. Add the cereal on top, level the layer.
7. Pour 3 cups boiling water.
8. On top we throw a bay leaf. You can stick a couple of cloves of garlic.
9. Now we cover, as we cook the pilaf on low heat for about half an hour.
10. Let the dish brew, then the risotto must be thoroughly mixed from the bottom so that the vegetables are evenly distributed in the rice.
Lenten Risotto "Tomato Taste"
To prepare this lean dish you will need good, sweet and meaty tomatoes. You can take the cherry.
Ingredients
• 200 g of rice;
• 200 g of tomatoes;
• 1 head (large) of onions;
• 30 ml of olive oil;
• a pinch of black pepper;
• 1 green pepper;
• salt;
• any greens for serving.
Cooking
1. Cut the onion, fry for a minute over high heat in olive oil.
2. Add washed rice, continue to fry over high heat.
3. Pour in diced green peppers. Warm up a minute.
4. Cut into slices tomatoes, spread on top of rice with vegetables, sprinkle with black pepper.
5. Add 2 cups of salted boiling water, cover.
6. Cook the risotto until rice is cooked.
7. Gently spread with a spatula on plates, the tomatoes should remain on top, sprinkle the dish with herbs.
Lean Risotto with Pesto and Avocado
To prepare such a lean risotto, you need ready-made pesto and avocado sauce. The dish is very popular, often found in Italian restaurants.
Ingredients
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil;
• 1 pepper and onion;
• 2 avocados;
• 1 tbsp. l pesto sauce;
• 1 glass of rice;
• 0.7 liters of vegetable and mushroom broth;
• salt, parsley, black pepper.
Cooking
1. Cut the onion into small cubes, throw in a pan with olive oil. Fry a little. You can take more oil if necessary.
2. Add pepper chopped into small cubes and immediately fill in washed large rice. We fry all together in olive oil for several minutes. Stir so that the rice does not stick together.
3. The broth is separately boiled in a saucepan.
4. Pour the soup ladle into the pan, start to evaporate. Do not cover the dishes.
5. As soon as the whole liquid is absorbed, add spices, pesto sauce, stir and pour another soup ladle. Re-evaporate moisture over moderate heat.
6. If rice is not cooked, add broth again and repeat all this.
7. Cut the avocado into cubes, put it in a frying pan at the very end, heat it together with cooked rice.
8. Put the risotto on the plates.
9. Immediately, while the dish is hot, sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Lean Risotto with Pumpkin
For the preparation of such a risotto, you can use any pumpkin, but preferably bright and juicy. Mandatory ingredient of the dish is sweet paprika.
Ingredients
• 1 onion;
• 2 cloves of garlic;
• 150 g basmati rice;
• 200 g pumpkin;
• 1 tsp sweet paprika;
• a little salt, black pepper;
• olive oil, greens.
Cooking
1. Cut the onion, put in oil, start frying.
2. Crush the cloves of garlic with the back of a large knife, put in onion, fry on both sides, remove and discard.
3. Cut the pumpkin into cubes, add to the onion, fry for a couple of minutes.
4. Once the vegetable has released enough juice, you can fill in the washed rice. If there is no variety of basmati, feel free to use another.
5. Sprinkle the dish with sweet ground paprika, which will give an unusual brightness. Salt and pepper.
6. Pour boiling water. Water should cover the contents of the pan.
7. We cover, bring rice with pumpkin to readiness. At the end of the risotto you need to mix, sprinkle with dried or fresh herbs.
Lean Risotto with String Beans
For this dish you need string beans, you can take frozen or fresh pods. In the second case, it will be necessary to trim the ends, chop the rest with pieces of 3-4 centimeters.
Ingredients
• 200 g of green beans;
• 200 g of rice;
• 1 onion;
• 1 large pepper;
• 30 ml of oil;
• pepper, salt;
• 2 tomatoes;
• greens, garlic.
Cooking
1. Throw the prepared string beans in boiling water, boil for five minutes. Drain into a colander, let the excess water drain.
2. Fry the onions in the pan, as soon as the pieces become translucent, add the boiled beans to it. Fry together for a couple of minutes.
3. Pour washed rice, continue to fry.
4. Cut the bell pepper, add to the pan.
5. Grate the tomatoes, or remove the skin and mashed with a blender. Add salt to them, pepper, squeeze one or two cloves of garlic. Stir.
6. Pour the tomato into the risotto. Stir.
7. Immediately add boiling water. Make the water cover rice and vegetables one and a half centimeters.
8. We cover the pan, bring the dish to readiness on low heat.
Lenten risotto with pears and honey (sweet option)
In the sweet version, the risotto is no worse than in the salty classics. If desired, pears can be replaced with other fruits, but not too soft. The dish is delicious in hot and cold.
Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons of odorless oil;
• 1 large pear;
• 2 tablespoons of honey;
• 2 tablespoons of walnuts;
• 2 tablespoons of raisins;
• 0.5 tsp cinnamon.
Cooking
1. Rinse the rice, put in a pan with one tablespoon of oil, fry until golden brown, pour 1.5 cups of boiling water, cover and bring almost to readiness.
2. Pour raisins with hot water for ten minutes, then squeeze.
3. The second spoonful of oil is poured into another pan, set on fire.
4. We chop nuts. Spread in oil, start frying.
5. Quickly cut the pear into slices, but you can make small cubes. Add to the nuts.
6. After a minute, spread the raisins. Cooking all together over medium heat for another three minutes.
7. Sprinkle cinnamon on top, stir and spread honey. We remove the fire to a minimum, stir.
8. Once all the honey has melted, absorbed into the pears, you can shift the sweet mass to the almost finished rice from the second pan.
9. Stir the risotto, cover, turn off. Let it brew for 20-30 minutes.
Lean Risotto - Useful Tips and Tricks
• Risotto is not pilaf. If necessary, the dish can be opened, stir, add boiling water or any broth to it.
• Italians prefer to fry rice in olive oil, but if the dish is not lean, it tastes better on cream. You can use ghee.
• The best addition to lean risotto is a salad of fresh seasonal vegetables or tomato juice.
• Risotto can be cooked not only on the stove, but also in the slow cooker. The kitchen assistant will do the job perfectly.
