Comfort foods such as a creamy risotto is one of my many dreams. I dream about eating a spoonful of risotto and feeling the warmth go down my throat. Am I making you hungry because I know I am by just describing about it. Let’s make it more real, so here I am, back with a recipe for pumpkin or squash risotto.
A creamy risotto is usually made with arborio rice or risotto rice which you can easily get in super markets. It sure sounds fancy and restaurant’sy but trust me it is easy to make it at home. All you need is good ingredients, water and patience. Risotto turns creamy by adding boiling water one ladleful at a time.
My secret to a creamy risotto is butter and milk added at last to finish off into a nice risotto. For this squash risotto, roasting the squash and then adding into the risotto at the end gives a lot of flavour and keeps them together. Try spinach peas risotto, panzanella, aglio olio, mac n cheese, eggless gnocchi etc.
- 200 gm diced pumpkin/squash
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- Coarse sea salt
- 1 Tbsp pine nuts/cashew nuts
- ½ Cup risotto/arborio rice
- ½ Tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic an
- ¼ Tsp cayenne pepper
- ¾ Cup milk
- ½ Tbsp butter
- ½ Tsp black pepper
- Salt to taste
- Hard vegetarian cheese to grate on top as required
- Roast pine nuts till lightly golden. Keep aside
- Dice the squash
- Smear little olive oil and season with salt
- Roast for 15 minutes at 200 Deg C or till soft
- Next heat olive oil
- Add chopped garlic and saute
- Sprinkle cayenne pepper powder and saute
- Next add arborio rice and coat well with the oil
- Pour a ladleful of boling water into the rice
- Let the rice absorb the water
- Further add one more ladleful of water and allow rice to absorb
- Repeat till rice grains turn soft. Might require a few ladlefuls, check before adding more
- When the rice has cooked, pour milk
- Add a blob of butter and let it cook well
- Season with black pepper and salt
- Tip in the roasted squash and mix well
- Garnish with grated vegetarian hard cheese if you like!
Whole milk or full fat milk makes it richer and creamier
Add any herb like thyme or basil if you want
Squash Risotto Stepwise:
Roast pine nuts till lightly golden. Keep aside
Dice the squash
Smear little olive oil and season with salt
Roast for 15 minutes at 200 Deg C or till soft
Next heat olive oil
Add chopped garlic and saute
Sprinkle cayenne pepper powder and saute
Next add arborio rice and coat well with the oil
Pour a ladleful of boling water into the rice
Let the rice absorb the water
Further add one more ladleful of water and allow rice to absorb
Repeat till rice grains turn soft. Might require a few ladlefuls, check before adding more
When the rice has cooked, pour milk
Add a blob of butter and let it cook well
Season with black pepper and salt
Tip in the roasted squash and mix well
Garnish with grated vegetarian hard cheese if you like!
