Laziest Lowest Effort Lion’s Mane Mushroom Risotto with Fresh Basil

Here’s the laziest way I’ve found to make a good risotto. The trick is to use a rice cooker. So maybe this is not a true risotto, but it was very tasty and easy to prepare.

So just start the brown rice in your rice cooker and walk away. Once the rice is done, or while the rice is cooking, saute the onions, mushrooms, and any other ingredients. Add the rice, add more liquid, bring to a boil, let it simmer and thicken. Add juice from 1 lemon, peas, greens or any other ingredients and let cook a couple minutes longer. Then add fresh basil at the end.

Ingredients

Brown rice:

• 1 cup brown rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp or a few grinds of salt

Wash the rice, add rice, 2 cups of water, and salt to the rice cooker and hit the button. Easy.

Risotto

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 yellow onion
• 2+ gloves of garlic
• 6 to 10 garlic scapes
• 3 cups of water or broth
• 2-4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 2+ cups chopped mushrooms (Lion’s mane are used in this recipe, any mushroom variety should be fine.)
• 2-3 tables spoons of butter
• 2 teaspoons of tamari
• Peas
• Kale / chard / greens
• 1 lemon’s juice
• Salt & pepper
• Fresh basil
• Add avocado and fresh sprouts for serving if you like.

Directions

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in dutch oven or large pot on medium heat. Saute chopped onions, add garlic, some salt and pepper.

Add the mushrooms, also add more oil if needed, and the butter as the mushrooms will soak up a lot of it. Saute for 5 to 7 minutes.

After the mushrooms are cooked to your liking, the cooked brown rice. Stir, try not to let it stick to the pan. Add the water / broth, add nutritional yeast. Increase the heat slightly, to maybe 6 or 7ish on a stove with 10 heat levels.

Stir periodically until it comes to a boil. Reduce heat to ~3.5 or ~4. Let it simmer, checking periodically and stirring until it begins to thicken.

Once the risotto begins to thicken to your liking, maybe 20 minutes or so of simmering, add the peas and chopped kale, chard or other greens. Let it cook for 2 minutes (or more if you use frozen peas maybe add them a little sooner).

Add the lemon juice, and basil, salt & pepper to your liking and serve 🙂

Inspired by “Easy Brown Rice Risotto with Mushrooms and Fresh Oregano”