Creamy vegetarian risotto with mushrooms and tomatoes

Who doesn’t like risotto? Who hasn’t tried to impress their guests with some fancy risotto? And who hasn’t stressed over making a risotto because god, oh god, it has to be perfect plus I forgot to buy black truffle? Well, it doesn’t have to be that complicated, nor stressful. A good risotto requires more love and good, basic ingredients than anything else. You don’t need fancy black truffle nor golden powder to make an amazing risotto. Sometimes simple is the key. Most vegetarian/vegan risottos are made with asparagus or artichokes which is great, but today I wanted to change it up a bit so here my very own interpretation of a creamy vegetarian risotto with mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.

What you need for this creamy vegetarian risotto?

• 2 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 onion
• 200 grams of arborio rice (Around 1 cup)
• 600 ml of vegetable broth
• 50 ml of white wine (optional, if you don’t use the white wine, add 50ml of vegetable broth)
• 2 cups of mushrooms
• 1 and 1/2 cups of cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup of peas
• 1 generous tablespoon of cream
• 1/2 tablespoon of basil
• Grated cheese (as much as you want)
• Salt and pepper to taste

How to cook this creamy vegetarian risotto?

Preparing all the vegetables

We are going to start with preparing all the vegetables: peel and slice the garlic, cut the onion in dices, the mushrooms in slices and the tomatoes in halves or quarters.

Cooking the mushrooms

In a large pan (we will use the same pan for all the cooking), add some olive oil and cook the mushrooms for about 5 minutes. We want them to be rather crunchy not soggy when we add them to the risotto. Once they are starting to brown/golden, set aside in a bowl.

Cooking the onion and garlic

In the same pan we just used for the mushrooms, we are going to start cooking the onion and garlic. Pre-heat the pan with some olive oil and once it is hot, add the onion and garlic. Cook for around 1 to 2 minutes at high temperature.

Cooking the risotto

In the same pan, add the rice and the basil and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Now is the part that most people dislike about cooking a risotto: the broth part. We are going to gradually add broth to the rice & onion mixture. Once the rice absorbs all the broth, we will add more. Repeat this process until the rice is cooked al dente.

Adding the rest of veggies: peas, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms

We will add each veggie at a certain moment. The peas will go first (5 minutes into the cooking of the rice). Then the cherry tomatoes (10 minutes after) and finally, the mushrooms (around 12 minutes after starting the rice).

Serving the risotto

The key to a good risotto is stirring and making sure it doesn’t become too liquid. After 15 minutes of cooking, try the rice. It shouldn’t be too hard, nor too soft. When it is al dente, remove from the heat and add the cream. Mix well.

You can serve the risotto in a bowl and top it with some grated cheese (usually this is done with Parmesan).

The vegan version

To make this risotto vegan, you just switch the cream for some vegan alternative (soy cream usually works best) and you can either drop the cheese, or add in some nutritional yeast.

More rice recipes…

• Tomato and cabbage stew Recipe
• Japanese Spicy Curry Vegetable Recipe
• Kimchi Fried Rice Recipe