I’ve said this a couple of times over the past week, but I love using the Holiday time to create new vegetarian/vegan recipes. Thanksgiving is never big in my house, as my entire family (aside from my immediate family) are in India. And from a personal standpoint, well let me not get started as to why I’m not a big fan of Thanksgiving at all – for environmental, animal, and historical reasons. This post is about my new recipe, so let’s stick with that!

Risotto is a thing of love. When I hear ‘risotto’ I think comfort, warmth, and family, because this is a particularly popular dish amongst my family (I mean, we’re Indian, rice lovers DUH). I wanted to make something classic, but add a little Indian twist to it of course! Risotto Milanese is popular in Italy, specifically Milan (where Risotto is from!). It’s simple risotto dish made with a lot of saffron – a rich and fragrant ingredient that we readily cook with in Indian cuisine. I found these beautiful fresh carrots at the market, so I wanted to make something that compliments the carrots, but also provides a sense of comfort. Thus, my Saffron Risotto with Charred Rainbow Carrots & Almonds was born.

Saffron Risotto with Charred Rainbow Carrots: 

• 1 cup arborio rice
• 4 medium shallots – chopped
• 4 cloves garlic – minced
• 1 tsp red crushed pepper
• 1 tbsp peeled, sliced, unsalted almonds
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 4-5 cups homemade vegetable stock or reduced sodium vegetable stock
• heaping pinch of saffron threads
• salt
• black pepper
• olive oil
• 1 cup grated vegan parmigiana cheese
• 15-20 mixed whole carrots – I used purple and rainbow carrots – tops trimmed off and carrots peeled
• couple sprigs of fresh thyme
• toasted sliced almonds – for garnish
• olive oil
• salt
• black pepper

1. Preheat the oven 400 degrees. In a large sheet pan, toss carrots with olive oil until coated. Add thyme, and sprinkle on some salt and black pepper. Toss to coat and evenly spread out on sheet pan so that all the carrots are touching the sheet. Place in the oven and bake for about 30-40 minutes – turning a few times in between so that all sides are brown. You should cook until fork tender, not mushy. Remove and let cool until ready to serve.

2. Place the vegetable stock in a large pot and set over medium flame. Bring to a slow simmer. Add in half of the pinch of saffron and stir.

3. Place a heavy bottom large pot over medium-high flame. Add olive oil to coat the bottom and let it heat. Add in the shallots, garlic, and red crushed pepper. Sauté until slightly translucent, add in a sprinkle of salt and black pepper. After about 3-4 minutes, add in the arborio rice, sliced almonds, and remaining half heaping pinch of saffron. Sauté for another 3-4 minutes until it smells nutty and rice begins to become translucent. At this point, add in the wine and reduce heat to medium-low and mix in until its absorbed.

4. Now comes even more babysitting…Begin to start ladling in the simmering saffron veggie broth – I do 2 ladle-fulls at a time. Continuously stir until the broth is absorbed into the rice. And repeat the action. This will happen over the course of 25-30 minutes – until rice is fully cooked through and fatter. Consistency should be very creamy.

5. Once cooked through, I stirred in the parmigiana cheese and mix well. Scoop risotto into a shallow serving dish, top with charred carrots, toasted almonds and parmigiana cheese. Fin!!