Coconut rice (for ricecooker)

This is a great rice to serve as a side dish with spicy indian food. It will make a great combination of flavours.

Ingredients: 

290 gr basmati rice

240 ml coconut milk

480 ml water

1/2 tsp salt

2-3 tbsp shredded coconut

If you don't have coconut milk, don't worry, it's very easy to do at home. You need 225 gr desiccated coconut and 450 ml boiling water. Put the coconut in a food processor and pour the over the boiling water. Process for 20-30 seconds, then cool. 

Place a cloth over, bring the ends together and twist it to extract the liquid. You can keep the coconut milk in the fridge 1-2 days or it can be frozen until you need it.

To prepare the coconut rice, put all the ingredients in a rice cooker and stir well. Cover and set to cook. Stir once or twice while it's cooking. Serve with some indian curry or with the food you prefer, but I think it's the best way to balance the flavours with very spicy food. 

Zucchini and peas risotto

Ingredients:
300 gr rice (roma)
4 small zucchini
1/2 onion
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 fresh chili
olive oil
salt
200 ml tomato sauce
oregano
basil
water (as needed)
parmesan cheese

Cut the onion and fry it on the olive oil. Add the cut chili, zucchini and peas. Mix from time to time and when the zucchini are a bit softer, add the rice and mix. Add the spices and the tomato. Mix well and add some water from time to time until it's ready (continue stirring in the meantime). Cook for approximately 15 minutes (but check the instructions on your pack of rice).
Serve hot with some parmesan cheese on the top.

Volcano sushi

Ingredients:
200 gr rice
1 tbsp vinegar
1tbsp sugar
150 gr smoked salmon
1 cucumber
chinese cabbage
chili powder
salt
vinegar





Cook the rice, add vinegar and sugar and mix it. Put cold rice with some salmon and cucumber in the volcano shaped tin (you can actually do any kind of shape you have at home). You can play with it, make stripes or put everything in the middle, however. Put everything in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Wash the cabbage and slice it thin. Add some chili powder, salt and vinegar (you can also add a little bit of oil) and put it on the plate next to your sushi.

Risotto with leek and philadelphia

Here is my new experiment. Actually I've tried it at my friend's student house first, but I didn't have my camera with me at that time, so the recipe had to wait a few more weeks before it was posted here. 

Ingredients:

rice (1 cup per person)

onion (1)

leek (1)

olive oil

philadelphia (2-3 spoons)

salt 

pepper

chili powder

Chop the leek and the onion and fry it in a pan with some olive oil. Add the rice and mix for a minute. Cover with some water and add salt, pepper and chili powder. Mix well. Continue to cook until the rice is done. At the end add a few spoons of filadelfia and mix well. Easy, right? And the taste is wonderful. 

Risotto with avocado

I used some avocado last night, when I did sushi maki with smoked tuna and avokado. With avocado I didn't use yesterday I did a nice risotto for lunch. It is really easy to make and it taste good. :)¸

Ingredients:

avocado (1)
rice (250 gr)
onion (1/2)
garlic (2 cloves)
olive oil
chili powder
salt
black pepper
nutmeg
parmesan cheese
clear vegetable soup (1 l approximately)

Cut the onion, garlic and avocado. Fry the onion and garlic with a pinch (or even less) of chili powder on olive oil until it's golden. Add the avocado cubes. Mix until they become soft and creamy. If the avocado isn't soft enough, cook it in water for some time than smash it. Add rice and mix. Add salt and black pepper. Cover with vegetable soup and mix from time to time. A few minutes before the rice is cooked, add some grated parmesan cheese and a bit of nutmeg. Some people may add a bit of butter, but I did without and it turned out really nice.

Risotto with rocket

This time I did risotto once again with one of my favourite plants: rocket (in italian rucola). And once again I added some spices, it can be done without any spices.

Ingredients (4 people):
rice (4 cups)
onion
rocket
knorr cube
parmesan cheese
spices (sweet chilli powder, chilli powder, curry, masala)

Chop the onion and fry it. Add the spices and mix. Add the rice and mix again. Then add water and a knorr cube. From time to time continue to mix and add water when needed. When the rice is done add some parmesan cheese and mix. Then add the rocket leaves and mix. Leave some parmesan and a few leaves to garnish. Put the rice on the plate, some parmesan on the top, a few rocket leaves on one side and serve. 

Risotto with asparagus (with oriental flavour)

As usually, I tried to cook with more fantasy and less instructions. Here is what it came out.

Ingredients (4 persons):

rice (5 cups of 1dl)
fresh asparagus (4 pieces)
olive oil
onion (1)
garlic (1)
water
salt
knorr cube (1)
various spices (hot chili powder, sweet chili powder, curry powder, curcumin powder, masala powder, ginger, white pepper, black pepper)

First of all I chopped the onion, garlic and the asparagus. Then I put a spoon of oil in a pan and fried the onion and garlic but just for a little time. I added the spices and well mixed everything. After that I added the chopped asparagus and mixed again. I continued to mix on medium heat. I added rice and mixed again. Then I added some water, salt and the knorr cube. I continued to mix and added water when it needed. I think I had to cook the rice about 15 minutes, but the best way to find out if it's cooked is to taste if it's ready or not (but you can always check the cooking time on the package of rice). Don't forget to mix from time to time otherwise it sticks on the bottom.