Mushroom Risotto (vegan)

I love trying new things in the kitchen. I recently went to a nice vegetarian (or vegan?) restaurant downtown Ottawa. They served us an amazing 5 course meal, but what stood out the most was their truffle risotto. Ever since, I’ve been dreaming of risotto.

Since I more or less like to stick to my budget when cooking, making truffle risotto at home isn’t ideal. The day before making this meal, my veggie broth was still in the freezer. I went to the mini-mart by my place to pick up some veggies and hopefully some broth. It turned out they didn’t have any gluten free broth, so I had to push back the risotto-making by one day while the broth thawed. Because it’s a mini-mart, my veggie options were quite restricted. I ended up settling on mushrooms and green onions.

This meal is great served with wine. Hopefully, you’ll still have some wine leftover from making the risotto – that is, unless you wanted to take several sips of the wine to make sure it tasted okay before cooking with it.

Vegan Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients
1 bunch green onions, chopped (white parts only)
Package white mushrooms, sliced (8oz/227g)
1 cup arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups veggie broth
2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast

Directions
In a small to medium saucepan, warm up the broth. It doesn’t have to be boiling.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the green onions and mushrooms, tossing occasionally until brown, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and toss to coat until it starts crackling. Pour in the white wine. When it’s almost completely absorbed, add the broth in 1/2 cup increments, letting it absorb almost completely before adding the next 1/2 cup. This will ensure the risotto comes out nice and creamy.

When all the broth has been added and absorbed, turn off the heat and add the nutritional yeast. Cover and let it sit for a few minutes before serving. It will become creamier. Makes 2 servings.