I recently dished out what I would call a ‘falsetto risotto’ because it wasn’t a real risotto where the rice had been cooked in the juices of the sauce. It was more an Indian style, mix everything together and eat, sort of risotto. Here’s what happened.
A friend was visiting, and I cooked more rice than I should have, being nervous about running out. The mound of leftover rice confronted me as I stepped into the kitchen to cook dinner. What to do? Out came a handful of button mushrooms, an onion, a couple of tomatoes, a kilo of shelled peas, and voila! I had dreamed up a risotto that I even dare call one because the said visiting friend insisted on naming it such, which was very kind of him considering it could have just as easily been called a mish-mash!
Here’s how to do it, the next time you have some boiled rice lying around:
Ingredients:
Button mushrooms – 100 gms, diced
Peas – 1 kg, shelled
Onion – 1, finely sliced
Tomatoes – 2 medium, diced
Whole red chillies – 3 or 4
Rosemary – 1 tbsp
Whole pepper corns – to taste
Leftover cooked rice
Olive oil to cook
Pour some olive oil into a pan, allow it warm up, then add the rosemary, red chillies torn into halves, and the pepper corns. After a couple of seconds, put in the onions and sauté until they soften a little. Add the mushrooms and stir for another minute or so. As soon as the mushrooms release their aroma, which will be pretty soon, put in the tomatoes and the peas. Now, sprinkle some salt, cover, and allow to cook. Check after a few minutes – if the peas are fresh, they will become moist and will easily cook in their own moisture without your needing to add extra water. However, since we are making a risotto, it might work well to add just a bit of water to make a light curry.
Once all the ingredients are well cooked, add in the cooked rice and stir well. I did not heat the rice separately, and it all just blended well in the pan. Do make sure that the pan you cook in is large enough to hold the rice, because you will want everything to simmer together for a couple of minutes before taking it off the fire.
