- Chop an onion or 2 and perhaps a couple of cloves of garlic.
- Fry them over a medium heat (in a wok or similar) until a bit golden.
- Add in vegetables such as a few finely chopped carrots, cauliflower etc and fry for a bit.
- And do the same for mushrooms, and in fact any other vegetables that take your fancy/are lurking at the back of the fridge/or were reduced in Sainsburys.
- When they're all a bit less raw and the mushrooms have released their juices, add a large mugful of rice (about 330ml) to the pan and stir it around.
- If you have it, a glassful of white wine can then be added too - stir the pan contents until the wine's been absorbed. (NB You can use red wine - will still taste lovely but it will give your risotto the appearance of having gone through the washing machine with a rogue purple sock.)
- Then add a couple of mugsful of boiling water and a crumbled up stock cube. Perhaps also a chopped chilli and loads of dried or fresh herbs such as sage and rosemary.
- Bring it to the boil, turn down the heat a bit so the contents of the pan are simmering in a gentle, civilised way (rather than erupting like Mt Vesuvius).
- Now wait for the rice to absorb the liquid, stirring it every few minutes to stop it becoming surgically attached to the pan. If the liquid's all gone but the rice is still too crunchy, (perhaps unsurprisingly) add more boiling water.
- (You can at this juncture also do something useful like taking out the recycling, doing a few sun salutations, or even artfully carving a carrot into the shape of a swan - it does both build up the appetite and add to the flavour of the finished dish).
- Towards the end of the rice cooking, you could always some quick-cooking veg, like little broccoli florets or frozen peas, for vibrant green-ness.
- When the rice and vibrant green things are all cooked, turn off the heat.
- A tasty non-vegan flourish at this point is to mash up and stir in a Le Roulé type cheese, which gives it a nice creaminess and flavour.
- And when that's done, it's time to serve, perhaps garnished with some grated cheese of your choice, or some toasted pine nuts, or a carrot artfully carved into the shape of a swan.
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