Healthy Recipes Blog

Here’s a great recipe - vegetarian too! This has been a favourite of mine since I was fifteen - I turned vegetarian and started cooking for myself at that time, although I now eat meat occasionally. I’m thirty six now and still cook this recipe regularly. Even my family, who are all meat eaters, always enjoy this risotto when they come round for a meal Serve it with a salad and you’ve got a tasy, healthy, colourful meal…

Vegetarian Risotto - serves four

2 tablespoons oil (I use olive oil - add a little water if it starts to stick in the pan)

1 large onion, finely chopped

175g (6oz) brown rice

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon salt (use less if you’re on a low salt diet, or substitute with low sodium salt)

2 sticks celery, thinly sliced

2 peppers (red, yellow or orange) cored, seeded and diced

250g (8oz) mushrooms, sliced

1 x 425g (15oz) can red kidney beans

3 tablespoons fresh parsley, rough chopped

2 tablespoons soy sauce

50g (2oz) grilled cashew nuts (if they’re salted, rinse them in a seive)

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a saucepan, addonion and fry until soft. Add rice and 2 cloves of garlic. Cook for 2 minutes then add water and salt. Bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 35 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed.

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a frying pan, add celery and peppers, fry for five minutes until soft. Add mushrooms and the rest of the garlic and fry for three minutes. Add the cooked rice, kideny beans, parsley, soy sauce and cashwew nuts. Heat it through until the beans are hot, then serve garnished with parsley.