Shiitake and pea risotto with glazed brussel sprouts and cashew parmesan

Remove the shiitake from the packet and place into a bowl with 3 cups of boiling water (5 cups for families) for 10 minutes.

Chop the ends off the brussel sprouts and quarter them lengthways. You will lose the outer leaves but that’s ok.

Peel and dice the onion.

Mince the garlic.

Remove shiitake from the water and place on chopping board. DO NOT DISCARD WATER.

Add half of the vegetable stock powder to the mushroom water and mix together. This makes the liquid stock.

Preheat a large pan on medium heat.

Fry the onions in a little oil with some salt for 3-4 minutes, until soft.

Add the garlic and rice and fry for another 2 minutes.

Pour 1 cup of the liquid stock into the rice and gently stir.

Slice the shiitake thinly.

MAKING THE RISOTTO

You want to cook the rice in the mushroom stock while it reduces and soaks in to it. It should take a total of about 25 minutes to cook.

Once the stock has mostly reduced from the pan, add the peas and shiitake, then add the rest of the stock one cup at a time and let it reduce all the way down.

You want to be stirring constantly as the water gets closer to fully reducing – less water increases the chance of the rice sticking to the pan and stirring helps release the starch from the rice making it creamy.

Once the water is fully reduced, you have no liquid stock left and the rice looks sticky and glazed, taste the rice and check to make sure it’s fully cooked. It should have a little bite to it but still be soft.

If not fully cooked, add half a cup of water and reduce again.

You can remove it from the heat at this point and finish off after the sprouts.

MAKING THE SPROUTS

Put a generous amount of oil in a pan on high. The sprouts need quite a bit of oil as they are so dense.

Once the oil is hot, place in the sprouts.

Gently toss them to coat them in the oil then cook them for about 4-5 minutes. Try not to move them too much as we want to get quite a bit of char on them. It adds a lot of flavour.

Once cooked and dark, add the remaining stock powder and 1/2 a cup of a water. Let it reduce down, stirring lightly.

Once all the water has reduced, making the sprouts glossy and sticky, add 1/2 tsp of plant butter/margarine and half a squeeze of lemon.

Taste and re-season if needed then remove from heat.

Put the risotto back on the heat and once up to temperature add soy milk, plant butter/margarine and 3/4ths of the cashew parmesan and mix together well.

Place the risotto in a bowl, top with sprouts and garnish with cashew parmesan.

Enjoy!