This low-fat, reflux-friendly porcini mushroom risotto is delicious on its own
or when you make it into low-fat baked arancini (risotto balls)
This recipe should suit most reflux* sufferers, but if you’re following the very rigid reflux induction diet from the ‘Dropping Acid‘ book, you will need to make the following changes:
- Substitute the butter with a tablespoon of olive oil
- Do not use any parmesan cheese
The quantities below make 8 generous portions, as I like to make lots and turn some or all of the risotto into arancini (risotto balls) – any leftover arancini can be frozen and re-heated.
Ingredients (for 8 generous portions)
- 700g arborio rice
- 100g dried porcini mushrooms
- 1l boiling water
- 100ml semi-skimmed milk
- 20g butter
- 2.5l chicken stock (or vegetable stock), made with the strained mushroom soak (milk & water), topped up with biling water to 2.5l, plus 5 Knorr Stockpots (or the equivalent amount of good quality stock cubes to make 2.5l of stock)
- 40g grated parmesan
Method
Soak the mushrooms for 20 mins in 1 litre of boiling water mixed with 100ml cold semi-skimmed milk.
Heat the butter in a large stock-pot (cooking the risotto is even easier if you use a non-stick stock pot). Remove the mushrooms from the water/milk soak and squeeze all liquid out with your hands.
Tip: Lift the mushrooms out of their soak without going to the bottom of the bowl you’ve soaked them in, as there will be lots of sediment settled in the bottom. The soak will still be very hot, so take care not to burn yourself. Wearing latex/vinyl gloves may help and will also stop your nails discolouring from the mushroom soak.
Add the mushrooms to the stockpot with the butter, along with a generous pinch of salt. Keep the heat high but stir frequently to make sure the mushrooms don’t stick or burn.
Meanwhile, make the stock: Strain all sediment out of the mushroom soak (water/milk), top it up with boiling water to make 2.5l of liquid and add 5 stockpots (or enough stock cubes to make 2.5l of stock). Stir vigorously for the stockpots to dissolve in the water.
After a minute or so, add the rice and stir to let it absorb the butter and mushroom flavour. Stir to make sure it doesn’t stick and once the rice looks slightly glossy from the butter (should take no longer than a minute), add the stock.
Pour enough stock onto the rice to cover it, stir gently and once it’s started simmering, turn down the heat to keep it simmering gently. Leave it to simmer, keeping a close eye on it but resisting the temptation to over-stir as you don’t want to break the rice grains.
Top up with more stock every time most of the stock has been absorbed.
Keep this going until the rice is cooked, but still with a bit of bite (‘al dente’). This should take approximately 20 minutes, but as rice is a natural ingredient, how long it takes and much stock you end up using is variable.
Make sure the risotto isn’t too dry at the end (so add very little stock each time as you’re nearing the end of cooking). You want it to be slightly wet as it will absorb more as it stands and, when you add the parmesan, this will also make it drier.
Stir in the grated parmesan and leave to stand for a few minutes before serving.
For those not on a low-fat diet / reflux diet, you can serve this with more parmesan to grate onto each dish at the table.
Gloriously Simple, Gloriously Reflux-Friendly, Gloriously Low-Fat, Gloriously Good
*Please note I am not a doctor, speech therapist or in any way medically qualified. The recipes are a combination of my interpretation of the rules outlined in the ‘Dropping Acid – The Reflux Diet’ book and ingredients that work for my reflux. If you believe you suffer from reflux, please seek advice from a medical professional to confirm your diagnosis and work out the best course of treatment/management for you. I hope that my recipes can help you as part of this management. The recipes are, by their nature, very low in fat, so are also suitable for anyone wishing to follow a low-fat diet.
