Monday nights are hectic in our household. Everyone has been at work and childcare all day. We are often home late and we want something easy and fast. So I started making my “Cheesy Lemon and Pea Baked Risotto. While the onions were cooking tonight though, I was rummaging around in the fridge and notice a large red capsicum, some coriander and some tandoori paste. This was the result and it’s become one of our favourites.
YOU NEED
1 large brown onion, peeled, halved and finely diced
¼ of a cup of water
1 x 250 gram block of firm tofu, cut into slices
2 tablespoons of tandoori paste
1 cup Aborio rice
#optional ¼ cup of nutritional yeast
3 ½ cups of vegetable stock
1 large red capsicum, washed, quartered, cored and cut into long thin strips
1 ½ cups of frozen peas
1 cup of fresh coriander, washed, drained and roughly chopped
YOU DO
Preheat your oven to 200c.
Place the onion and water in an oven tray. Place the tray onto your stove top and cook gently on a medium heat, until the onion starts to soften. Then turn off the heat.
Add the rice, nutritional yeast and stock and bring to the boil. Cover tightly (and carefully) with foil and place the tray in the oven for 15 minutes.
While the rice is cooking, combine the tofu with the tandoori. Heat a small amount of oil in a medium pan and gently cook the tofu until it has browned and starts to crispen and set aside
After the rice has been cooking for 15 minutes, remove the tray from the oven. Carefully remove the foil and stir through the capsicum, pea, tofu and coriander. Cover the pan with foil again and place it back into the oven for another 10-15 minutes or until the rice is cooked.
Once the rice is cooked, I like to garnish it with a little extra coriander or mint and a dollop of coconut yoghurt. I also serve it with loads of fresh salad.
Yields: 2 large serves.
Time: 45 minutes.
Notes: I have tried a few brands of tofu to date and the one I find I keep going back to is the Blue Lotus brand as it has a much less earthy flavour than other brands.
The Nutritional yeast adds a cheesy flavour to the risotto. It is also a source of B12.
