Brown Rice Mushroom Risotto with Macadamia Cheese

Risotto is a family favourite around here, perfect for that quick meal when you can't be bothered cooking. (At least, it is when you have a Thermomix.) But too much white rice is not a good thing, so I decided to try making a brown rice risotto the other day. It was delicious - nutty, full of flavour, and very filling. My family aren't usually all that keen on brown rice, but they gobbled this up and asked for seconds! It takes a fair bit longer than regular risotto, but that's not really a big deal when your Thermomix is doing all the stirring and cooking for you... you can just put your feet up and relax until it calls you for dinner.

I love to serve this macadamia nut 'cheese' with this risotto - it makes all the difference! The risotto becomes creamy and nutty and 'cheesey' - it's a perfect match for the brown rice. Even if you usually enjoy parmesan on your risotto, try this and see what you think. You can also bake some pumpkin pieces and raw baby spinach to stir through once it's cooked for extra flavour. Enjoy!

1. Chop in Thermomix for 3-5 seconds on speed 5:

- 1/2 a brown onion

- 2 cloves of garlic

2. Add ghee or oil and cook at 100 degrees for 3 minutes, speed 1:

- 30g ghee or extra virgin olive oil

3. Add the remaining ingredients and cook at 100 degrees for 50 minutes, reverse, speed 1 1/2:

- 200g sliced mushrooms (a mixture is nice)

- 350g brown rice

- 2 Tblspns vegetable stock paste

- 1100g water

... and a dash of truffle oil if you have some!

4. Pour the risotto into your Thermoserver, stir through a couple of handfuls of baby spinach, and place the lid on to finish it off to a perfect consistency. Then rinse the bowl to make the macadamia 'cheese'.

Macadamia Cheese (inspired by this recipe)

Mix all ingredients in Thermomix on speed 6 for a few seconds, just until a crumbly consistency is reached. Don't overprocess, or you'll have cream cheese!

- 1 cup of raw macadamias

- 1 Tblspn lemon juice

- 2 Tblspns savoury yeast flakes

- 1 tsp onion powder

- 1/2 tsp sea salt

To serve the risotto, stir through a couple of handfuls of the macadamia cheese, then sprinkle some on top of each individual serving. You can also stir through some small pieces of baked pumpkin, or serve alongside.

Note: If you're in a hurry and can't be bothered nicely slicing the mushrooms, just chuck them in after you saute the onion and give them a quick chop on speed 3-4, just for a few seconds. That's what I did with the risotto in the photo. ;)