talkhealth Blog

This is my quick and easy risotto recipe and tonight’s dinner  – all made in 1 large saucepan. The kids loved it and my 18 month old got stuck in eating with her hands. This easy, cheap (only 75p per serving) and nutritious meal only takes 30 minutes to make. Instead of using expensive Arborio (proper risotto) rice, I just used normal basmati rice, and it tasted lovely. As usual with my blog recipes, I’ve analysed the recipe – see the nutritional information below. You can add any vegetable selection you have. I used carrots, pepper and sweetcorn, but you can use whatever needs using up. Broccoli, peas, spinach and courgettes would work equally well. This recipe serves 4 adults.

Ingredients

• 250g (dry) basmati rice

• 1 teaspoon olive oil

• 1 onion, chopped

• 1 pepper (any colour – I used green pepper)

• 3 medium carrots, sliced

• 200g (mugful) of frozen sweetcorn

• 1 chicken stock cube

• Boiling water

• 1 tin of tuna, drained

• 1 x 400g tin of red kidney beans, drained

• 100g reduced fat cream cheese

• 60ml single cream (optional)

• Ground pepper, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder and drizzle of lemon juice for extra flavour

Method

• In a large saucepan, add the olive oil, onion, pepper, carrots and uncooked rice. Heat on medium until rice is glistening

• Add a crumbled stock cube, and a cupful of boiling water. Keep adding extra water, as needed, to enable the rice to cook

• After approx 10 minutes of cooking time, add the sweetcorn, tuna and beans. Add extra boiling water, as needed

• Once rice is cooked and carrots tender (another 10 minutes or so), remove from heat and stir in cream cheese, optional single cream, black pepper, garlic and lemon juice

• Enjoy!

Servings

This meal will serve 4 hungry adults

Cost per serving

I calculated this meal to cost £3 – only 75p per serving. To keep costs down, I bought peppers from Lidl (£1 for 3), value red kidney beans (31p) and cream cheese (55p for a 200g tub).

Nutritional information

This meal contains 468kcal, 21g protein and 10g of fat per serving

Tips / Serving suggestions

• Use any leftovers for lunch the next day

• I did not add any salt (the stock cube contains plenty of salt in my opinion). You can always add extra garlic, black pepper and lemon juice to increase the flavours if you need to

• If you need/want to gain weight, use double cream instead of single cream, and use full fat cream cheese instead of reduced fat versions, to add extra calories and protein

• Add extra vegetables that need using up to increase your 5-a-day portions (courgettes, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms and/or spinach would work well)

The post Easy tuna risotto – simple, cheap & nutritious! appeared first on Expert Dietitian.

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Annemarie Aburrow

Annemarie graduated from the University of Southampton in 2003 with a first class honours in Physiology with Nutrition. She went on to study a Postgraduate Diploma in Dietetics at Cardiff Metropolitan University, leading to registration as a Dietitian. Between 2005 and 2013, Annemarie worked for the NHS in a wide variety of clinical and community roles. More recently, she has specialised in health promotion and prescribing support. She has particular experience in obesity management (both adults and children), diabetes, nutrition for the under 5s and nutritional supplement prescribing. In 2013, Annemarie left the NHS to set up her private practice 'Expert Dietitian'. She now works as a freelance Dietitian, offering private consultations in Hampshire, telephone and Skype appointments, corporate nutrition consultancy and bespoke training. She has a growing portfolio of project work, including working with her local council to provide nutrition training and expertise to Early Years settings, article writing, work with schools and running training/workshops. Annemarie is a member of the British Dietetic Association (BDA) and is registered with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC).