Pseudo-Risotto
June 23rd, 2006 | by Loretta |A purist would probably use arborio rice or at least a short-grain rice to make risotto. This would usually result in chewier rice and a starchy, creamy texture. But not everyone has arborio rice, and I was among those people.
There was about a cup of leftover rice from dinner. I believe we have been eating jasmine rice, which has a good chewiness to it, but nothing on arborio. After melting some butter in a heated pan, I loaded in some chopped garlic and then the leftover rice to soak up some of the flavors. Then, I added just enough water to cover the rice.
Risotto, to my surprise, does not actually need to be stirred all the time– so says the chefs I’ve been watching here in America. When I made real risotto with my homestay family, my homestay mother would tell me, Gira! Gira!
That is, to stir and stir. And I would, stir and stir and stir for what might have been 30 minutes.
Well, since we don’t use the metric system here, risotta alla Americana should not take 30 minutes. Especially when the rice was already cooked. So, as a lunch, geared to eat up some leftovers in the fridge, I made a no-frills edamame risotto, seasoned with a little salt and black pepper.
I prefer my cheesey broccoli mock risotto over this, but this was still filling and pretty tasty nonetheless.