Asian-Inspired Mushroom Risotto

This dish is an example of the compromises that help make a marriage work. Matt wanted a udon noodle mushroom soup for dinner & I wanted a hearty mushroom risotto. So, to make us both happy, I made a mushroom risotto full of the flavors of an Asian soup & it totally worked.

I added the typical Asian components of soy sauce & ginger but, the ingredient that really brought this dish home was dried seaweed I cooked in the chicken stock. What we ended up with was a dish that was just full of umami, that pleasant savory flavor. And bonus, it's a creamy hearty risotto that isn't full of cream & cheese! Don't skip the Sriracha in this dish, it doesn't make it spicy but adds a little zing.

Asian-Inspired Mushroom Risotto

1 T of olive oil, divided
5 oz mushrooms, sliced (we used a mix of shiitake, oyster & brown mushrooms)
salt
3 c chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 c dry dulse seaweed, chopped (you could also use kombu)
1/2 T unsalted butter
1/2 c minced white or yellow onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 t minced fresh ginger (or 1/4 t dried)
3/4 c arborio rice
1/4 c white or rice wine
1 T low sodium soy sauce (you may want to start with 1/2 T & taste, especially if your stock is salty)
1 t (more or less to taste) Sriracha
4 scallions, chopped

Heat 1/2 T of the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms. Sauté until the mushrooms are tender. Set aside

Put the chicken stock & seaweed into a saucepan & bring to a simmer. Keep simmering the whole time you are cooking.

Put the remaining olive oil & butter into a heavy saucepan over medium heat. When the butter is melted add the onions, garlic & ginger. Cook until the onion is translucent. Add the rice & stir while cooking for a minute. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add the wine. Cook, stirring often, until the liquid is absorbed. Start adding the broth & seaweed about 1/4 cup at a time, stir often while cooking. Add each addition of broth after the one before it is absorbed. The rice should get creamy tender but still have a slight bite in the middle. After all the broth is used up stir in the reserved mushroom, soy sauce & Sriracha.

Serve topped with the chopped scallion.

Makes 2 servings.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2011 Kathy Lewinski