Halal-conscious recipe
Mushroom risotto without wine
Porcini and chestnut mushroom risotto made with a vegan vegetable stock cube, hot water where the white wine would go, and a rennet-checked hard cheese instead of Parmesan.
Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.
Photo: PixelBrûlé · CC BY-SA 4.0
Why Halal checks matter here
Most risotto recipes deglaze the rice with white wine, the cheese stirred in at the end is usually Parmesan, which is traditionally made with animal rennet, and a meat stock cube can bring in uncertified beef or chicken.
Risotto is rice stirred slowly in hot stock until its starch turns the liquid creamy. Most recipes, BBC Good Food's included, start by pouring a glass of white wine over the toasted rice and letting it bubble away. This site does not treat cooked-off wine as Halal, and a mushroom risotto has plenty of flavour without it: the porcini soaking water does the work.
This version keeps the method and makes three checks. Hot water goes in where the wine was. The stock cube is a vegetable one labelled vegan or vegetarian, because beef and chicken cubes contain meat that is not shown to be Halal (see stock cubes). And the cheese at the end is a hard cheese that names microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet, since Parmesan is traditionally made with animal rennet; the original suggests Parmesan or Grana Padano.
Keep the stock hot and add it in stages, stirring often, and take the pan off the heat while the rice still has a little bite: it keeps softening as it rests. The risotto page covers what to ask in an Italian restaurant.
Halal-critical ingredients
- White wine Most risotto recipes, BBC Good Food's included, deglaze the rice with a glass of white wine. Letting it bubble away does not make it Halal on this site. Use hot water or more stock, as here. See Wine and Risotto.
- Parmesan or Grana Padano Parmesan is traditionally made with animal rennet, and scholars differ on rennet from animals not slaughtered the Halal way. Read the rennet on any Italian hard cheese. Use a hard cheese that names microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet, or a cheese your practice accepts. See Parmesan.
- Stock cube Beef and chicken cubes contain beef fat or chicken that is not shown to be Halal. Use a vegetable cube labelled vegan or vegetarian. See Stock cubes.
Safe substitutes
- White wine → The same amount of hot water or stock
- Parmesan or Grana Padano → A hard cheese with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet
- Chicken or beef stock cube → A vegan or vegetarian vegetable stock cube
Allergens
milk (butter, cheese)
Ingredients
Stock
- 50 g (1¾ oz) dried porcini mushrooms
- 1 l (4¼ cups) boiling water
- 1 cube vegetable stock cube labelled vegan or vegetarian
Risotto
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
- 150 g (1 large) onion, finely chopped
- 6 g (2 cloves) garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 250 g (9 oz) chestnut mushrooms, chopped
- 300 g (1½ cups) risotto rice, such as arborio
- 175 ml (¾ cup) hot water, in place of the white wine
- 25 g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter
- 10 g (a handful) parsley leaves, chopped
- 50 g (½ cup) hard cheese with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet, finely grated
Nutrition per serving
Estimated for 1 of 4 bowls.
| Calories | 510 kcal |
|---|---|
| Fat | 16 g |
| of which saturates | 6 g |
| Carbohydrate | 80 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Sodium | 930 mg |
Calculated from the metric quantities in the ingredient list, divided by 4, using USDA FoodData Central values for each raw ingredient. Cooking losses aren't modelled and brands differ, so these are estimates, not a lab analysis.
Sugars not shown: USDA gives no figure for one of the main ingredients.
Fibre not shown: USDA gives no figure for one of the main ingredients.
Not counted: vegetable stock cube labelled vegan or vegetarian (counted as part of the stock).
Where the list offers a choice, the first option is counted.
Dried porcini are counted as USDA dried shiitake, the nearest entry.
Stock is counted as USDA ready-to-serve broth.
The rennet-checked hard cheese is counted as USDA grated Parmesan.
How each ingredient was counted
| Ingredient | USDA food | Counted |
|---|---|---|
| dried porcini mushrooms | Mushrooms, shiitake, dried | 50 g |
| boiling water | Soup, vegetable broth, ready to serve | 934.1 g |
| olive oil | Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 27.4 g |
| onion | Onions, raw | 150 g |
| garlic cloves | Garlic, raw | 6 g |
| chestnut mushrooms | Mushrooms, brown, italian, or crimini, raw | 250 g |
| risotto rice | Rice, white, medium-grain, raw, unenriched | 300 g |
| hot water | Beverages, water, tap, drinking | 175.2 g |
| unsalted butter | Butter, without salt | 25 g |
| parsley leaves | Parsley, fresh | 10 g |
| hard cheese with microbial | Cheese, parmesan, grated | 50 g |
Method
- Soak the porcini. Pour the boiling water over the porcini and soak for 20 minutes. Drain them, keeping the liquid but leaving behind the last few tablespoons with any grit. Crumble the stock cube into the liquid and squeeze the mushrooms gently.
- Cook the mushrooms. Heat the oil in a wide pan over a medium heat and fry the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes until soft. Add the chestnut mushrooms and the porcini, season, and cook for 8 minutes until the fresh mushrooms soften.
- Toast the rice. Stir in the rice for 1 minute. Pour in the 175 ml of hot water where the original recipe uses a glass of white wine, and let it bubble away.
- Add the stock in stages. Add a quarter of the mushroom stock and simmer, stirring often, until the rice has absorbed it. Repeat with the rest, a quarter at a time, until the rice is creamy and just tender; add a splash of water if it needs longer.
- Finish. Off the heat, stir in the butter, half the cheese and half the parsley. Cover for a few minutes, stir once more and serve with the rest of the cheese and parsley.
How this recipe was researched
Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Mushroom risotto' (dried porcini soaked in a litre of boiling water with a vegetable stock cube, onion, garlic and chestnut mushrooms, arborio toasted then deglazed with a 175 ml glass of white wine, the stock added in quarters, finished with butter, parsley and Parmesan or Grana Padano). We replaced the wine with hot water, asked for a vegan or vegetarian stock cube, and swapped the cheese for a hard cheese with microbial, vegetable or Halal-certified rennet. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.
Technique and ingredient sources
-
Mushroom risotto — BBC Good Food
Retrieved:
Serves 4: 50 g dried porcini soaked in 1 litre boiling water, 1 vegetable stock cube, olive oil, onion, garlic, 250 g chestnut mushrooms, 300 g risotto rice, a 175 ml glass of white wine, 25 g butter, parsley, 50 g Parmesan or Grana Padano. We replaced the wine with hot water and the cheese with a rennet-checked hard cheese.
-
Risotto analysis — isithalal.food
Retrieved:
Stock, wine and Parmesan checks for risotto.