Sweet Potato Risotto

Besides risotto's mandatory ingredients wine and parmesan, this risotto has something extra - sweet potato and pepita (pumpkin) seeds. Healthy and delicious!

Blog's Category: My Own Fast and Easy, International  

Sweet Potato Risotto

Intro

I discovered Italian specialty, risotto, relatively recently but since then it's one of my favorite Italian dishes. Funny enough I never tasted someone else's risotto  or somewhere out at Italian restaurant :) Anyway, the most important thing is that risotto I cook is very good and I believe is pretty close to authentic one if not "truly authentic".
I still adore classic simple version of risotto but this time I opted for "loaded" variety and added sweet potato and pepitas. Turned out very good! So here is the recipe.

What is it

Arborio rice cooked with onion, wine, sweet potato, pepita seeds and parmesan to the wonderful and creamy one-meal dish.

Taste Description

#1 - light, modified off original one, slightly fruity wine aroma; it is one of the primary tastes here
#2 - amazing creamy texture surrounding somewhat "toothy" pieces of rice, sweet potato cubes and pepitas
#3 - cheese and black pepper add just right amount of sharpness
#4 - sweetness of sweet potato and wine acidity create perfect equilibrium

How to Serve

Serve right away or reheat next day adding a splash of water to recreate again smooth and creamy texture.

Sweet Potato Risotto 

 

• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cups of finely diced sweet potato (1/4" or smaller)
• 2 cups arborio rice
• 1 cup pepita (pumpkin) seeds
• 2 cups of white wine (Pinot Grigio or Risling)
• 4 + cups of chicken broth, hot
• 2 cups grated parmesan cheese
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste (freshly ground)
• 5 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs butter
• kettle of boiled hot water

- In a large pan, cook onion just until translucent.

- Add dry arborio rice, sweet potato and pepitas and cook on a medium heat, stirring, for about 2-3 minutes.

- Add wine and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes.

- Now start adding chicken stock in batches, stirring all the time. Keep cooking on a medium heat, stirring and adding chicken stock until rice is almost completely cooked. If you are out of chicken stock, add hot water from a kettle.

- When rice is cooked but somewhat toothy and sweet potato cooked through, add parmesan cheese, pepper and adjust salt. Cook for another minute, add butter and it's done! Enjoy!


Some Notes

- For risotto, it has to be arborio or other short-grain type of rice. They have a right amount of starch and shape to create a perfect risotto.

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IN PICTURES

In recipe directions I suggest to add rice, sweet potato and pepitas, all together. Here, on the pictures, I added sweet potato and pepitas a little later and ended up with a slightly overcooked rice (which is was ok with me) just because I needed to cook a little longer to get sweet potato completely soft.

I like to use chicken broth cubed - it's more convenient for me.