I needed a nice hearty dish that would use some pumpkin for the next meal plan. As I’ve made so much pumpkin soup lately, I decided to go for a risotto. For a nutritionally complete meal both legumes and grains need to be on the plate, so I added brown lentils making the result even richer.
It was a nice first experience with Spanish pumpkin and of course we enjoyed the outcome.
Ingredients |5 servings|:
| 1 onion, chopped |
| 3 garlic cloves, minced |
| 2tsp dried sage |
| 1tsp ground nutmeg |
| Black pepper to taste |
| 2tsp broth powder |
| 7oz (1.06 cup) or 200g (250ml) brown rice |
| 7oz (1.06 cup) or 200g (250ml) brown lentils |
| 3.8 cups (900ml) + 3-4tbsp water for sautéing |
| 23oz (640g) pumpkin cubes (2.2lbs or 1 kilo of whole pumpkin) |
Preparation:
Wash and rinse rice and lentils. Put aside.
Chop onion, mince garlic, and prepare pumpkin cubes. Put aside.
Boil 3.8 cups water.
Heat large skillet, add 2tbsp water and wait until it starts to sizzle. Add onions and sauté for 3 minutes. Then add garlic and sauté for another minute (adding water 1tbsp at a time when necessary to avoid sticking). Add sage and broth powder and stir.
Pour pumpkin cubes, rice, lentils and 600ml (about 2.5 cups) of water onto the skillet. Stir. Simmer covered and add water when previous one has disappeared. Stir occasionally.
I used quick brown rice and 25-minute lentils taking me 35 minutes to get the risotto cooked. If you use 40-minute rice, it can take up to 50 minutes. Be aware not to over-cook the rice.
In the end add black pepper and nutmeg.
I served it with steamed spinach (200g, 7oz per serving).
Top the risotto with nutritional yeast or “Parmesan” made of cashews, nutritional yeast and sea salt.
Enjoy!
Nutritional info per serving (just risotto): 327 kcal, 62.8g carbohydrates, 2.26g fats, 13.9g proteins, 9.25g fibre.
Nele Liivlaid: founder of Nutriplanet.org She has been into healthy eating for many years, but developed a more profound interest in nutrition and related diseases when she started reading The China Study and other special books on nutrition. After being in real estate and hospitality business for more than 10 years she decided to totally change her path to spread the word about healthy and sustainable nutrition and lifestyle.
