Today’s blog is a delicious vegetarian twist on a risotto. It uses chickpeas as the main protein source. As well as protein, chickpeas (along with other beans and pulses) are a good source of iron and calcium. I like to go veggie once a week to reduce our meat intake and also help do my ‘bit’ for environmental sustainability. This easy, cheap (approx 50p 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. It doesn’t have the ‘bite’ of a restaurant cooked risotto but it tastes delicious. My kids are my biggest critics and theg all polished this off very quickly! I used carrots, courgette and sweetcorn but you can add any vegetable selection you have. Peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, peas and spinach would work well. This recipe serves 4 adults.
Ingredients
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250g (dry) basmati rice
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1 teaspoon olive oil
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1 onion, chopped
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1 courgette, chopped
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1 stock cube
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Boiling water
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2 carrots, sliced
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180g sweet potato, cut into small cubes
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200g (mugful) of frozen sweetcorn
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2 tablespoons creme fraische
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Ground pepper
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1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Method
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In a large saucepan, add the olive oil, onion, courgette and uncooked rice. Heat on medium until rice is glistening
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Add a crumbled stock cube, and a cupful of boiling water. Keep adding extra water, as needed, to enable the rice to cook
- Meanwhile, boil the sweet potato and carrot cubes in a separate saucepan until tender. You only need to use a small amount of water
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After the rice mixture has been cooking for approx 10 minutes, add the pre-boiled sweet potato and carrots (along with the water they were boiling in), sweetcorn and chickpeas. Add extra boiling water, as needed
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Once rice is cooked and carrots tender (another 10 minutes or so), remove from heat and stir in creme fraische, black pepper and garlic.
Servings
This meal will serve 4 hungry adults
Cost per serving
I calculated this meal to cost just £2- only 50p per serving
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