Green Veg Risotto.

Anyone who tells you risotto is difficult is a damn liar. Or in idiot. One of the two.

It is piss easy.

Admittedly, I've only ever made veggie risottos, but one assumes that as long as your chicken/prawns/meaty chunks of choice are thrown in where I've thrown in the veg, and are cooked through before serving, it's all good.

'Green' risotto is a little vague, but there's courgette, spinach, peas and broccoli in here. 

Various other risottos I've made include: mushroom & bacon (I guess that's not veggie, but bacon cooks quickly enough), courgette & aubergine, root veg (carrot, parsnip, a little potato), and beetroot - fresh beetroot, that you have to peel. So far all I've been able to find in the supermarkets here is pickled or preserved 'fresh' beetroot and I don't trust it.

A note: you can use any rice. Arborio is the normal risotto rice because it absorbs the flavours well, but chances are you haven't got any lying around the house, and besides that, it's more expensive than normal rice and we're in a recession, dammit. Plain old long grain is fine, honest. It'll still soak up the stock and the flavours, just not quite as well as arborio. We had some sushi rice lying about - which is also super absorbent - so I used that, but I've used long grain before and it's been just as delicious.

In some places I've put things in brackets because that's what we used (frozen veg etc) but you can use fresh, obviously. 

Serves 2

Ingredients

1/2 a courgette, diced 

A handful of spinach

A handful of (frozen) peas

4 large (frozen) broccoli florets

1/2 (red) onion, diced (you can use yellow onion either)

2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped

Large handful of rice

Chicken or veg stock cube (I used chicken)

Water

Splash of white wine (optional)

Splash of single or double cream

Salt 

Pepper

Oregano

Butter

Olive oil

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Prepare your veg - everything should be ready just to throw in the pan so you can concentrate on stirring once it's on the go. Seriously, this is the only trick to the risotto. If you've got an arm that is capable of stirring, you're good to go.

Meanwhile, in one pan, put the stock cube in a pan with around a litre of water. Bring it to the boil then turn down the heat so it stays hot throughout cooking.

In another (a large, deep frying pan is best), let 2 biggish knobs of butter and a splash of olive oil melt into each other. Add the onion and garlic and fry for a couple of minutes, then throw in the fresh veg. Again, fry for a couple of minutes, until coated in the oil, then add the rice and make sure this is coated in the oil too.

Your frozen veg goes in now, along with the salt, pepper and oregano.

Once everything in the pan has a nice coat of oil on it, get a ladle and spoon the stock into the pan one scoop at a time - you add one scoop to the risotto, and let it soak in, stirring all the time so that all the rice has time to absorb it. When the water is almost completely soaked in, add another scoop until the stock pan is empty. It'll probably take 3 or 4 scoops for the rice to really start to fluff up, so don't worry that your rice isn't cooking, unless you reach the bottom of your stock and it's still not fluffy (in which case, just add more water...)

When you add the last bit of stock, also add the wine and cream, and stir well. In the end, the sauce doesn't need to soak in completely, as the dish should still be rich and creamy, but  also thick.

Add more black pepper to the top to serve.

Chicken & Chickpea Curry, & Saag Aloo

So Jenn and I cooked a curry. A big curry. Seriously, there was enough for 4 people but we destroyed it all anyway! We decided on a basic chicken curry as the main element of the meal, with sides dishes. This is a chicken curry recipe I learnt half of my mum, half of the good old "that spice smells indian-y, stick it in"

CHICKEN AND CHICKPEA CURRY


2 chicken breasts cut into bitesize pieces
1 red onion
1 tin of chickpeas
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tsps coriander seeds
4 tsps garam masala mix
2 tsps dried chillis
salt and pepper

pre heat the oven to 180
Heat up 4 tbsps of oil in a frying fan and add the coriander seeds. gently fry for a couple of minutes then add the chicken.
Fry the Chicken until colored, but not fully cooked. It will finish cooking in the oven later.
Add the diced onion and fry until soft.
At this point add the spices, the garam masala, salt, pepper and dried chillis.
When the spices have coated all the chicken add the can of drained chickpeas, stir until the peas are coated in the spices then add the tomatoes.
Fill the empty tomatoe can up with water, swill it round then add to the curry. Give it a good stir and decant into a oven proof dish. Cook for half an hour.
When it has been in for half an hour serve. However the longer the curry cooks the better the spices will cook, so turn down to around 100 and you can cook it for as long as you need.

SAAG ALOO


1 large potato
1 bag of baby spinach
1 white onion
2 tsps coriander seeds
salt and pepper

Heat up 3 tbsps of oil in a frying pan and gently fry the coriander seeds. Half the onion, then thinly slice. Cut the potatoes into half cm cubes and boil in salted water until soft. Fry the onion with the seeds until they are cooked through and soft. Add the cooked potatoes and the bag of spinach and wilt. Once the spinach has wilted, stir well into the onions and add the salt and pepper.