Yellow & Red Pepper Risotto

I've always eaten risotto at some restaurants and never got an opportunity to try some home-made ones....
Some of my friends/cousins have tried their hands at it and they complain that it takes a lot of preparation time to get that perfect texture.
My quest to try my hands at risotto thus begun and I was determined to explore this new found recipe.....I went through a lot of websites online and found that if you follow the right procedure carefully and are patient; you have made yourself the perfect dish.
Risotto, is a rice dish that makes its own sauce.You don't have to use cream or milk to achieve the creamy or milky effect. It's all in the rice. The rice has to be short- grained; filled with starch unlike the long-grained rice like Basmati.The starch combined with a small amount of fat and broth makes the velvety sauce risotto.Although not difficult, risotto is somewhat labor-intensive. It takes fairly constant stirring for about 25-30 minutes. This is what releases the rice's starch and creates the sauce.

Yellow & red pepper risotto is a colourful dish; ideal for any dinner.So go ahead and indulge yourselves; in making yourself an elegant dish of risotto.

1 cup arborio rice
1 yellow pepper chopped
1 red pepper chopped
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 cup sliced yellow zucchini
2 garlic clove, minced
2 tbs butter
1tbs olive oil
5 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
1/4 cup white wine (optional)
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup parmesan cheese (can add more if you like)
2tbs finely chopped parsley


In a skillet cook peppers in water and 1tbs of butter, covered partially, over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until very soft.Puree peppers in a food processor or blender and strain through a coarse sieve into a small bowl.

In the cleaned skillet cook onions in 1tbs remaining butter over moderate heat, stirring until turned light brown, add garlic,sliced zucchini and cook until soft, and season with salt and pepper.

In a saucepan heat or broth and keep at a bare simmer or microwave.

Take a non-stick pan (chances of burning the rice is lesser),add olive oil and keep stirring dry rice for several minutes in the oil over medium-high heat until it is golden, but not burnt. This also helps the rice to release the starch later on, and creates a nice nutty flavour.
Add wine and cook, stirring constantly, until wine is absorbed.If you are not using wine; you can start adding broth.Add about 1/2 cup simmering broth and cook, stirring constantly, until broth is absorbed.
Continue adding broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, and cooking, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next, until rice is 'al dente', about 20 minutes.
Remove pan from heat and stir in pepper puree, zucchini, Parmesan cheese, parsley, salt and pepper to taste.Serves 2.

(Source: grouprecipes.com,about.com)
This is my submission to this month's Food palette series - Orange, hosted by Torview and to Virtual Girls Night In: The Indulgent Edition, hosted by Dragon Musings. A word of appreciation for Dragon Musing for aiming at donating $50 to the Cancer Council. All the best!!!
If you would like to donate/contribute, please click here.