Japanese Chicken Risotto

My Japanese Chicken Risotto is based on a Venetian risotto dish called Risotto alla Sbirraglia (I think the dish translates into English as the Risotto of the Guards of the Serene Republic, which is, I think you will agree, a bit of a mouthful - best left in the original Italian perhaps!) Anyway, if you know your Venetian risottos, you'll know that they are characterised by being quite runny and very smooth and rich and my Japanese take is no exception.

The Japanese angle in this recipe arises from several of the ingredients - first, instead of Italian arborio short grain rice, I use a Japanese short grain variety instead. The starch content of Japanese short grain varieties is uniformly high, so it makes for a great, creamy risotto and you get an end result that is no different from using arborio rice.

Second, instead of the glass of white wine that goes into a classic Italian risotto, I use a glass of Japanese cooking sake. It's used in the same way as in the original Italian dish, poured onto the (in this case) chicken and vegetables and stirred in over a medium heat until the alcohol has evaporated. Because Japanese sake is sweeter than white wine, the cooking sake gives the dish a very subtle sweetness that it otherwise wouldn't possess.

Then, there are the vegetables. I conjure a touch more Japanese influence by using a cup of edamame beans and I think these work quite well. I put them in quite late on into the dish so that they don't go too soft. Holding their firmness, the edamame give the dish a different dimension. Along with the edamame, there are also some shiitake mushromms thrown into the mix.

I add 2 tsp of miso at the end of cooking to give a little more salty flavour. I would usually use a light miso but, when I made this recipe, I didn't have any, so I used a dark variety and that works very well too.

My tips for this recipe are threefold:

One: keep your stock just below the simmer. This is important for any risotto - you need to keep the stock hot so that when it is added to the rice, no time is wasted getting the stock hot again.

Two: be patient! Add the stock one ladleful at a time and don't top up with another ladle until the rice has absorbed the last ladle of stock. As long as the stock is kept nice and hot, you shouldn't need more than 20 minutes to create a perfectly cooked risotto.

`Three: keep stirring! The heat in a risotto needs to be evenly distributed, so keep stirring and turning the rice over with a large wooden spoon. Don't be tempted to leave it cooking to do something else for a minute or two as this risks the rice in the bottom of your pan or casserole catching and hardening which isn't the result you want.

So there you have it - my Japanese Chicken Risotto. If you want to try out a risotto dish that's a little different and absolutely yummy, I suggest you give this a try. You can find the Youtubte tutorial by clicking Japanese Chicken Risotto or by scrolling to the bottom of the page. The written recipe is just below.

Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX.

---

ingredients:

(makes 2 generous servings)

1 onion

2 cloves, garlic

2 spring onions

4 fresh shiitake mushooms

75 g / 3 oz unsalted butter

1 chicken breast fillet ( around 250 g / 9 oz)

150 g / 5 oz frozen edamame

1 glass cooking sake (around 150 ml / 5 fl oz)

200 g / 7 oz Japanese short grain rice

600 ml / 21 fl oz chicken stock

2 tsp light miso

50 g / 1.75 oz Parmesan cheese

black pepper

---

how to:

finely chop the onion

peel and crush the garlic cloves

finely chop the spring onions

emove the stem ends from the 4 shiitake and slice

slice the chicken breast into cubes

heat up the chicken stock and keep it on a low simmer

gently fry the onion, garlic, shiitake and spring onions in 50g / 2 oz of the butter for about 5 minutes until just coloured

add the chicken and gently cook for another 5 minutes

next, add the cooking sake. turn up the heat and cook for 2 minutes to allow the alcohol to evaporate

add the rice. stir for about 2 minutes until the rice is hot and glossy

next, reduce the heat and use a ladle to add the chicken stock. pour in one ladle at a time, stirring until the rice has absorbed the stock. then, add another ladle of stock, keep going until almost all the stock has been used. before you add your last ladle of stock, add the edamame and stir them into the risotto.

add the last ladle of stock and keep stirring until absorbed. the rice should now be cooked and tender with a tiny bit of al dente. in all, this should take about 20 minutes

stir in the remaining butter, the miso and half the Parmesan

remove from the heat and cover

rest your Japanese Chicken Risotto for about 3 - 4 minutes.

add the remaining Parmesan cheese and season with a few twists of black pepper just before serving

---