isithalal.food · Recipes

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.

Italian · Main · Easy · 4 bowls · 50 min

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.

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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.

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.

Ingredients

Stock

• 50 g (1¾ oz) dried porcini mushrooms
• 1 l (4¼ cups) boiling water
• 1 cube (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

Method

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

Allergens

milk (butter, cheese)

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.

Photograph from our ingredient library: a mushroom risotto, not the finished dish.