This mushroom risotto is so easy, classic and vegetarian. With only 5 ingredients you can make yourself a healthy dinner. It's creamy, unami and full of mushroom flavor. This recipe is a Japanese-style mushroom risotto. And it uses shiitake mushrooms. According to medical reports, shiitake mushrooms contain lentinan, which can strengthen the human immune system and inhibit cancer.
Ingredients
- 750 g (1.5 lb) mushrooms, sliced 5 mm / 1/4" thick (Note 1)
- 1 1/4 cups arborio rice, uncooked
- 5 cups chicken or vegetable broth/stock, (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp salt and pepper, each
SERVING:
- Finely chopped parsley or chives
- Parmesan , freshly grated
Instructions
- Clean mushrooms with kitchen pepper. (Note 3)
- Cut mushrooms into 3 mm / 1/8" thick slices. Chopped garlic and chopped onions. Set aside.
- Prepare a pot of warm chicken or vegetable broth.
- Sauté mushrooms - Heat the pot over medium heat and add the sliced mushrooms. Separate the mushrooms twice. Don't stir until the water has evaporated, about 2 minutes, then stir for 1 minute. (Note 4)
- Move them to the side of the pot and add another mushroom half. Repeat the whole process again. Then transfer to a plate.
- Pour olive oil, add garlic and stir for 1 minute or until you can smell the aroma. (Note 5) Add the onion and stir until translucent. (Note 6)
- Add mushrooms, risotto and stir for 1 minute until risotto is semi-transparent. (Note 7)
- Add about half of the broth. Stir and let stand 5 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed (about 3 minutes).
- Add another half of the broth and stir occasionally until it's mostly absorbed (~3 min) - you don't need to stir constantly. Repeat the process two more times until all the broth is used up, the rice is just cooked, but the risotto is still creamy and sloppy (~7 min.).
- Add butter, freshly grated Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper and stir well.
- Transfer the risotto to bowls. Garnish with parsley, if desired.
Tips & Notes:
- Cut the mushroom into slices of this thickness. In this way, after sauteing, it's not too thin and you can enjoy the taste of the mushroom.
- If you're vegetarian, you can also use vegetable broth.
- Avoid washing the mushrooms with water, otherwise they'll absorb too much moisture, which can dilute their flavor when cooking.
- Don't add oil, but fry the mushrooms over medium heat. In this way, the moisture in the mushrooms will evaporate and the fragrance will be more intense.
- Stir the garlic first so it can release its strong garlic aroma.
- Stir the onion until it's translucent. This will allow it to develop its sweetness.
- Stir the risotto until it's translucent to break down its tissue so that the rice cooks faster and can better absorb the flavor.
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