Healthy Fusion Risotto

Selcuk Mercan is an old friend from Istanbul. I haven’t seen him in years and was pleasantly surprised when he suddenly showed up in Singapore with a new wife no less!
I had always though he was a, sort of, bachelor with a vengeance. We had dinner at a fine Singapore restaurant hosted by the famous S.S. Ngoi no less. I was fortunate to get the seat right next to this legendary gentleman. Not only is he a famous Turkish surgeon but also quite a chef.

I pleaded with him to teach me his favorite Turkish recipe hoping to learn something exotically Ottoman from a descendant of the fabled Seljuk Turks. To my amazement he said his favorite dish was Risotto. He spent the evening teaching me the finer points. Actually I have never ever made Risotto before and this dish has never been on the menu in my busy kitchen. Well, there was that one time when my Belgian ex-girlfriend Lucie tried to teach me to do it. Being Belgian, cooking was somewhat in her genes. The Belgians were renowned for their cuisine since the time of Julius Caesar and the Roman conquest of Gaul(55BC). In fact he remarked on it in his Gallic Commentaries. It is also a known fact that some of their warriors fought stark naked in those days. I do remember that Lucie’s rendition of this famous dish turned out reasonably well.

Risotto with Japanese mushrooms

Although a famously Italian item, this dish is beloved internationally. In keeping with all recipes in this blog we will keep our version relatively healthy.

Put one knob of butter in a pan and heat. When the butter has melted put in a handful of chopped garlic and onions. Once they are seared for a few minutes pour in 160g of Italian risotto rice. The rice has a somewhat starchy quality. Fry the rice for 2 or 3 minutes then add chicken stock 150 ml at a time letting the liquid absorb into the rice before adding the next 150 ml. The rice would need about 650 ml of liquid to reach the right consistency. After reaching about 450 ml of stock, simmer for a while then top off with about 200 ml of dry white wine of your choice. Finally stir in a handful of chopped fresh Shitake mushrooms, a handful of chopped parsley and finally a handful of grated Parmesan Cheese. Switch off the fire and stir well for 30 seconds.

Sauté the rest of the Shitake and Inoki mushrooms in two tablespoons of olive oil for 3 minutes. Pour the Risotto rice into a casserole and level the top of the rice.
Place the mushrooms on top and garnish with a few sprigs of the remaining parsley.

The dish will feed 4 people easily giving everyone about 600 Kcal. This repast is best washed down with some chilled Frascati wine. Who says you can’t eat well and be slim!