King Prawn Risotto with a hint of subtle flavours from the East.
Prawn Risotto with mild curry sauce, something slightly different in terms of a Risotto. I feel this dish stands up as a dinner party pleaser or just midweek comfort food. If you want to serve as a wow starter, just cut the ingredients in half.
Learning to make a risotto was one of the best recipes (actually, it’s more understanding the process) I did. I learnt many years ago & I cook a risotto of some kind every ten days. It’s so tasty & adaptable that you can use leftovers from the fridge or vegetables that need use. Also, once mastered, it is almost bulletproof as much as the end result is perfect. So if you have yet to try to make a risotto, now is the time to learn; at first, it can seem a little of a faff with all the stirring when & adding of stock, but trust me, cooking it three times. You are a pro.
It was the first dish I ever cooked my wife on an early date (prawn & pea risotto); our current favourites are roasted butternut squash, salmon & courgette & bacon lardons. But in truth, we usually decide during the day & make whatever we have in the fridge work. The store cupboard ingredients you need are rice (arborio), Parmesan cheese, butter, & onion. My veg base favourite is onion & celery, but thats just my preference. A risotto is better for a splash of white wine, so a quick tip; We freeze any leftover wine (yes, we occasionally have leftover wine), so there’s always a splash of wine available.
Regarding the recipe, I had a Prawn Risotto with mild curry sauce at Hush Restaurant recently & loved it; you can read the review here. Whilst I do not have the recipe from our friends at Hush, I attempted to recreate it, and this is my interpretation. I have tried to replicate the subtle Indian flavours without the dish losing its identity as a risotto. In my opinion be a little heavy-handed on the spicing & you will end up with a confused dish, neither a risotto nor a curry. That’s where I feel the version at Hush worked so well & my attempt to recreate the dish also turned out well. Anyhow, thats enough from me, give it a good and let me know your thoughts.
Finally, I feel this dish stands up as a dinner party pleaser or just midweek comfort food. If you want to serve as a starter, just cut the ingredients in half.
Prawn Risotto with mild curry sauce
Print RecipeIngredients
- 300g Arborio Rice
- 1.2 Litre of Veg stock
- 60g Parmasan Cheese
- 2 tsp of Tumeric
- 1 tsp of ground Cumin
- 1 onion
- 2 sticks of celery
- small pinch of chilli flakes
- Glass of white wine or vermouth
- 2 knobs of unsalted butter
- 250g of raw peeled prawns -cut into half
- Olive oil
Instructions
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Heat the vegetable stock
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Add Tumeric, cumin and chilli flakes to the stock, and stir in the spices.
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Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic ;trim and finely chop the celery. Quick tip, finely chop to the size of grains of rice. Finely grate the Parmesan.
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In a separate pan, heat the oil and one small knob of butter over low heat; add the onions, garlic and celery, and fry gently for about 5 minutes or until softened but not coloured.
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Add the rice and turn up the heat – the rice will begin to fry lightly, so keep stirring it. After 1 minute, it will look slightly translucent. Add the vermouth or wine, and keep going — it will smell fantastic. Any harsh alcohol flavours will evaporate, leaving the rice with a tasty essence.
Vegetables slowly cooked -
Once the vermouth or wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of sea salt. Turn the heat down to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside.
Adding Stock to the rice, wine & chopped vegetables -
Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and almost massaging the creamy starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next. This will take around 15 minutes. Taste the rice — is it cooked? Add stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. Don’t forget to check the seasoning carefully. Add boiling water if you run out of stock before the rice is cooked.
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Add Raw Prawns and cook for 2-3 minutes until pink; if you use cooked prawns, add them at the stage.
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Remove the pan from the heat, add a knob of butter and the Parmesan, then stir well.
Adding the parmesan & butter to the cooked risotto -
Place a lid on the pan and allow it to sit for 2 minutes – this is the most important part of making the perfect risotto, as this is when it becomes outrageously creamy and oozy as it should be. Eat it as soon as possible while the risotto retains its beautiful texture. So thats it; one word of caution is to try not to overcook the Prawns; raw prawns take very little cooking & cooked prawns need to be warmed through. https://mayfairfoodie.com/category/blog/recipes
