According To Gem

As I trudged home last night in the freezing cold I knew there was only one thing that would warm me up, my mummies yummy, scrummy fauxsotto or risotto as she’d call it.

Not only is this a relatively healthy winter warmer, it’s also the perfect way to use up whatever’s left in the fridge/cupboard. I’ve listed the recipe I used below, but feel free to pop whatever you fancy into this, be it left over roast chicken or a whole heap of veggies (think courgettes, sweetcorn, carrots), the wonder of this meal is it’s so versatile and most of the ingredients can be found in the cupboard.

If you want to give it a go you’ll need the following:

1 Medium Onion
1 Pepper (any colour)
1 tin of Tuna or meat of your choice
1 clove of garlic or a big squeeze of garlic purée
1 squeeze of tomato purée
1 pint of stock of your choice
1 satchet of savoury rice
1 mug of plain rice
1 mug of frozen peas
Soy sauce
Worcestershire sauce

*Sorry for the lack of actual measurements in this recipe, it’s one of those meals where you kinda just bung it all in a pan and go!

This recipe would feed two super hungry people with enough left over for lunch or 3-4 reasonably hungry people with no leftovers.

First things first you’ll need to finely dice your onion and chop up your pepper as well as any other vegetables you’ve chosen to use. I also usually make sure my stock is made up and everything else I need is to hand so I don’t have to rush around the kitchen like a loon.

Then grab yourself a big frying pan and pop it on a high heat with some oil (I used tuna with sunflower oil so just added this to the pan instead). Pop in your onion and pepper, crush/squeeze in your garlic and add a squirt of tomato purée then fry until the onion and pepper have softened slightly. It should already smell amazing!

Now add in your satchet of rice and the mug of plain rice and coat them in all the lovely oil. I usually stir it round for a minute or two to make sure it’s properly coated. Once you’re happy it’s all covered pour in your jug of stock. Don’t panic that it looks flooded at this stage, I promise you’ll actually need to add more liquid as you go…..unless you have a lid for your frying pan in which case a pint of stock will probably be enough.

After a few minutes it should look a little like this

Stir occassionally for 10 minutes making sure that none of the rice has stuck to the pan. If it starts to look like it’s drying out add a splash of water to loosen it up again. After 10 minutes bung in your tuna and stir, making sure it’s fully combined with the rice.

It should begin to start looking like this

Add as little or as much soy and worcestershire sauce as you like, there are no rules at this stage. I use Amoy reduced salt soy sauce and Lea & Perrins worcestershire sauce (is there any other?!) and then cook until the rice is done (usually about 10 minutes once you’ve added the tuna).

Heap into a bowl, onto a plate or just eat from the pan if you’re really naughty!

Voila!