Thai chicken risotto

Well aren't I a bad blogger today. I just thought I'd go on and remind myself what I posted today only to discover the reason I couldn't remember... I hadn't posted anything! Oops!

This was a quick dinner I whipped up earlier in the week. Since eating Thai food nearly every day for 2 and a half weeks on our honeymoon back in May, I haven't cooked anything Thai at home and we've only been to our local Thai restaurant once.

That changed this week. Something came over me and I had the sudden urge to cook Thai. I also wanted Italian. So what do you do when you can't choose? Combine them of course.

This is a very quick risotto to whip up. It's got all the flavours of Thailand with the texture of Italy and was really quick to make as a mid-week meal. You can use any curry paste you like in fact I could even see it as an Indian risotto if you swap out the coconut milk for some yoghurt, cream or sour cream. Add it to your menu next week. Go on, you'll thank me.

Unlike regular risotto where you have to stand over the stove and stir and stir and stir until your arm aches, this risotto requires hardly any work (continuing from yesterday's lazy theme I guess).

All you have to do is heat the stock in a pot until it's boiling then reduce the heat to a simmer, add the rice and curry paste, stir them through and that's it. You will need to give it a stir every now and then to make sure the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot but that's it until it looks like risotto.

The recipe said this step takes 20 minutes. Mine took at least 30 so allow 35. It's probably faster if you use a shallower, wider pot rather than a deep one.

You don't get to retire to the couch with a glass of wine though I'm sorry. Head a little oil in a frying pan and saute the onion and garlic together until they start to soften.

Then add the chicken and cook it until it's nearly cooked through. Turn off the heat and set the pan aside. Now if your rice isn't ready you can have a break for a little while.

When the rice is cooked, stir through the coconut milk and then add the chicken, onion, garlic, spinach and bamboo shoots and stir them through. Keep cooking just until everything it hot and the chicken is cooked through.

Next time I would chop up the bamboo finely. It was a little weird having big chunks of it. It was tasty but just a bit of a strange texture to have a mouthful of.

Garnish the risotto with fresh coriander leaves to serve. Enjoy !

Recipe

Thai chicken risotto

A quick mid-week dinner combining the flavours of Thailand with the textures of Italy.

Print Pin Rate SaveSaved!

Servings: 4

Author: adapted slightly from Autralian Good Food - July 2012

1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 brown onion diced
• 2 garlic cloves crushed
• 2 pcs chicken breast fillets diced
• 1 ⅓ cups arborio rice
• 1-2 tablespoon gluten-free Thai red or yellow curry paste
• ⅓ cup coconut milk
• 60 g 2oz baby spinach leaves
• 225 g 8oz sliced bamboo shoots, drained and chopped finely
• fresh coriander for serving

Instructions

• In a large, heavy-based saucepan (or risotto pot if you have one) heat the stock until boiling.
• Add the rice and curry paste and reduce the heat to medium low.
• Cook, stirring occasionally, until all the stock has been absorbed.
• Meanwhile, in a frying pan, heat the olive oil.
• Saute the onion and garlic until soft then add the chicken.
• Cook until the chicken is sealed and almost cooked through.
• Set aside and keep warm.
• When the rice has absorbed all the stock, stir through the coconut milk then add the chicken, onion, garlic, spinach and bamboo shoots and stir them through.
• Heat just until everything is warm.
• Serve garnished with fresh coriander.

Have you made this recipe? I'd love to hear what you think. Tag me on Instagram @clairekcreations