How to cook risotto at home: recipes with photos

How to cook risotto? Many housewives ask a similar question. What is this dish? Is it really that hard to cook? Today we will try to give an example of several recipes that ideally fit this name, and also consider all the necessary steps to prepare the perfect dish.

Tableware

Before cooking, make sure that you have all the necessary utensils clean. Also, be sure to clear the empty space in the kitchen and prepare all the cutlery. What kind of items will be required? Are needed:

• deep bowl or mug;
• deep frying pan;
• pan for frying ingredients;
• chopping board;
• convenient knife for cutting vegetables and fruits;
• a tablespoon for spices;
• kettle or thermo sweat with hot boiled water.

So, before you cook the risotto, light the two burners on the stove and set the pans to heat. Place the cutting board on a wet towel so that it does not slip.

Main products

Next, you need to consider what foods are needed for risotto. How to cook this dish without knowing the necessary ingredients? This is simply not possible. What will be needed for this culinary masterpiece?

Ingredients:

• rice - 500 grams in 4 servings;
• ground black pepper and salt - half a teaspoon;
• wine or wine vinegar - 2 tablespoons;
• onions - 1 pc.;
• hard cheese - 100-150 grams;
• vegetable or butter for frying.

How to cook risotto? To do this, you first have to decide what it should be. An experienced chef can cook mushroom, meat, "sea" and even such an extravagant apple risotto. But first things first.

Initial stages

So, pans are heated on the stove, and the right tools are at hand. Where to begin? How to cook risotto at home? To start, you have two options.

1. Fry the rice in butter. For 4 servings, you need about 200 grams of oil.
2. Rinse and soak rice in boiling water.

In general, the instructions are simple. After frying the rice and any of the necessary ingredients, you just have to mix them. We will go a longer way and consider in more detail the second option.

What needs to be done before making risotto at home? A step-by-step instruction will look as follows.

1. Rinse the rice. Remember, the better you do it, the more crumbly it will turn out for you. Many professional chefs prefer to cook risotto in the form of "rice porridge", but this may not suit all consumers.
2. Soak the rice in a bowl of hot water.
3. Chop the onion and grate the cheese.

How to cook risotto at home? Read the recipes carefully before you start cooking. Many components require the cook additional time and processing effort. For example, seafood, mushrooms, corn is best prepared in advance, without relying on one specific recipe. So you provide yourself with blanks from which you can cook many dishes.

Mushroom

How to make risotto delicious? Mushrooms (about 150 grams in 4 servings) are best suited for this dish. One of the main advantages of these mushrooms is that you can not make a mistake with them. This product can be consumed even in its raw form, so you absolutely will not be poisoned. For cooking, you can use both fresh and frozen mushrooms. How to cook risotto at home? A step-by-step method is as follows.

1. While the rice is settling, chop, peel and rinse the mushrooms under running water at room temperature. When using frozen semi-finished products, it is best to defrost them first and drain the melt water.
2. Put the mushrooms in a skillet. Allow excess liquid to evaporate from the frozen product and pour a little oil. Fresh mushrooms can be fried immediately.
3. Add the onions and fry the mushrooms until they are covered with a golden crust, but do not wait until they “squeeze”.
4. Next, transfer the swollen rice into a deep frying pan, add everything that you have fried, and pour boiling water just above the rice.
5. Add spices to taste, pour wine (or vinegar).
6. Evaporate all the water over low heat.
7. When the liquid has evaporated, check the rice is ready. If it seems to you undercooked, then there is nothing wrong with adding water and letting the dish boil a little more.
8. After the rice is ready, put it on plates and sprinkle with grated cheese while the dish is hot.

In fact, cheese is the most versatile “seasoning” that goes well with many dishes. Try experimenting on your own with different varieties to choose your ideal cooking option.

Now you know how to cook risotto with mushrooms, and we go further to explore the possibilities of cooking and rice.

Meat

This dish will not cause difficulties for a person who is used to working with various meat products. In particular, with chicken. This is the simplest meat that you can use without fear to get "rubber" out. In total, you will need 2 breasts in 4 servings. How to cook chicken risotto?

1. Cut the meat into small cubes measuring 1 by 1 centimeter. When using frozen meat, you don’t even have to warm it. So it will turn out softer and more boiling after cooking.
2. Fry the meat in a pan. Add oil is optional. But you can use olive. It is more useful than any other, therefore, if not brought to a boil, it will retain useful properties and will be absorbed into meat.
3. When the pink chicken turns white, add onion and some spices. Sauté.
4. Pour rice into a deep skillet, add meat with onions, salt, pepper, a little thyme and basil to it.
5. Evaporate water to the very end. The main difference from mushroom risotto is that the wine needs to be added after the dish is ready. Otherwise, alcohol toxins can soak into the chicken and spoil the meat.
6. When the rice is almost ready, add wine or wine vinegar and also evaporate it.
7. Put the finished dish on plates and sprinkle the top with the prepared cheese and dill.

As you can see, the main difference between meat risotto and mushroom is to use more spices. This is necessary in order not to get ordinary boiled chicken in the risotto, and the dish did not come out too fresh.

"Marine"

How to cook seafood risotto at home? This is very easy to do, especially if you can clean shrimp, squid, mussels and other inhabitants of the sea. Actually, this is precisely the main difficulty of this dish. For those who do not really know how to handle seafood, you can buy frozen semi-finished products in the store, which are not much inferior in quality to fresh counterparts. For the broth you need about 200 grams of seafood, but it is not necessary to use all of them in a dish.

1. Attention. No need to soak or boil rice in advance.
2. Sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil in a deep skillet.
3. Add rice and pour wine / vinegar.
4. After you clean the seafood, put them in a pot of water and put on high heat. Your task is to get the broth.
5. After 2-3 minutes, remove the seafood with a slotted spoon, but in no case pour the broth.
6. Transfer the boiled meat to the rice. Fry until a small crust appears.
7. Then, gradually add the broth, but do not fill the whole dish. Evaporate it gradually, adding the required amount of liquid.
8. When the rice is ready, put it on plates. Cheese is optional in this dish. It is added to taste.

Now you know how to cook risotto at home. You can see the photo of the finished "sea" dish below. In fact, there are an infinite number of variations of ingredients with which you can cook rice.

Vegetable

By itself, the type of food in question can be cooked with almost anything. You can even abandon the "basic" components like meat, seafood or mushrooms. For example, vegetables will be more than enough. What may be needed besides rice and spices?

1. Carrots - 200 grams.
2. Corn (canned or fresh) and green peas - 2-3 tablespoons in 4 servings.
3. Sweet pepper - 1 medium or large size.
4. String beans - 100 grams.

You can also decorate the dish with olives and some exotic vegetables. Preparing it all is very simple. It is enough to use any of the above instructions or the following tips:

1. Rinse the rice under running water until it becomes clear.
2. Boil water in a saucepan and pour rice into it.
3. Salt, pepper and leave to simmer.
4. Now you can do the vegetables. Cut onions, carrots, beans as you like. Dry peas and corn in advance from the marinade (if you use fresh, then corn must be boiled in advance). Do not forget to get the core out of pepper.
5. Put all the vegetables in a pan and pour olive oil. Fry until carrots change color to bright orange.
6. Sauté on low heat and do not burn. Vegetables should turn out soft, but not lose their taste.
7. As soon as the "greens" is almost ready, pour rice to it and fry for another five minutes until a golden hue appears.

If you do not have the opportunity to cook this dish, but really want to try, then you can buy its frozen counterpart in the store. Regardless of the manufacturer, this mixture has the name "Hawaiian". Despite the fact that it is recommended to boil it on the package, you can simply pour the contents into a frying pan, pour olive oil or vegetable oil, salt and then fry until the product is golden in color.

Professional Apple Risotto

One of the interesting recipes combines the incompatible. To some, this dish may seem too extravagant, but a fresh apple flavor goes well with rich rich rice. Today we will consider two recipes - professional and "home". To prepare the first dish, you will need the following ingredients:

1. 300-400 grams of rice;
2. 200-300 grams of apples;
3. a tablespoon of lemon juice or half a fresh lemon;
4. bulb;
5. half a glass of almonds;
6. butter to taste;
7. half a glass of dry white wine;
8. liter of chicken or vegetable broth;
9. grated cheese - 100 grams;
10. salt, black pepper - half a teaspoon.

After you make sure that you have not forgotten anything, you can proceed. How to cook risotto? You can see the recipe with a photo of the finished dish below.

1. Apples are peeled and cut into strips. After that, they must be sprinkled with lemon juice.
2. Onions must be peeled and diced.
3. Fry chopped onions in oil until transparent. Then add apples. Continue cooking for about 3 minutes.
4. Boil the broth and let it simmer until it cools.
5. Fry the rice in butter in a deep skillet for 3-4 minutes.
6. When the rice becomes translucent, add wine. After it evaporates, add all prepared ingredients except cheese. Boil the broth over low heat until rice is cooked.
7. When the cereal is soft, add a little oil and cover the nuts. Leave under the lid for five minutes to sweat.
8. Arrange the finished dish in plates, sprinkle with pepper and grated cheese.

To make the dish more palatable, you can preheat the plates. You can also add some spicy herbs or their mixture after the dish is ready.

Please note that good fresh apples after cutting quickly darken and acquire a brownish tint. This may affect the color of the entire dish, but do not worry - this incident will not affect the taste and quality.

Homemade Apple Risotto

In addition to professional recipes, it is also worth paying attention to amateur ones. The next dish can easily be called "spring." As a result of completing all the steps of the step-by-step instructions, you will get a refreshing and light risotto. What is needed for this?

Ingredients:

• 2 medium apples;
• 0.5 liters of apple juice;
• a little mint (dried or fresh) to taste;
• 500 g of rice;
• salt, pepper in half a teaspoon.

Juice can be used absolutely any. But you should not take home compote. How to cook risotto? Photos of dishes that you can brag to your friends are best done right after cooking. In the meantime, proceed with the instructions.

1. Rinse the rice well under running water.
2. Put it in a deep frying pan and fill it with hot water. Salt and pepper.
3. When the water evaporates, pour the juice diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 1.
4. Keep evaporating. At this time, peel the apples and cut the core. Chop into small cubes.
5. Add apples to the rice, sprinkle everything on top with mint, cover the pan with a lid and let the dish stand for five minutes.
6. Now you can arrange the portions on plates.

Thus, you got on the plate aromatic and tasty food. Great for both sweets and fasting enthusiasts.

Lazy

So, we figured out how to cook risotto. However, a person does not always have the opportunity and time to prepare a dish, following all the directions of the recipe. The following instructions are suitable for those who do not want to spend time and energy on too artsy food.

1. Take a pan and fill it with water. Bring to a boil and put in the bouillon cube (or another cooked seasoning).
2. After the seasoning has dissolved, pour rice (300 grams). Cook until cooked.
3. While preparing the rice, cut a little boiled sausage into cubes (100-150 grams).
4. Fry it in a pan until golden brown.
5. Grate some cheese (50-100 grams).
6. Drain the rice and put it in a deep bowl, transfer the sausage to the same place.
7. Mix everything.
8. Arrange the servings in plates and sprinkle cheese on top.

As you can see, this "lazy" recipe can be implemented by almost everyone. The products that are used in it can be found in every refrigerator. If there is seasoning in the house, you can sprinkle top with dried basil, thyme or dill, but only with one thing, so as not to interrupt the taste.

Conclusion

Today we brought some recipes on how to cook rice. Risotto, although a fairly simple dish, requires a precise sense of the time from the cook. But don't be afraid to experiment with ingredients and seasonings. For example, you can replace chicken with turkey or any kind of red meat. The taste from this will only become richer.