Savoury,  Spicy

Coconut crab risotto and bathroom devotion

crabcoconutrisotto
Admittedly an unfortunate juxtaposition for my risotto, but I spent today mixing concrete. Never let it be said that I don’t lead a glamorous life. For the uninitiated amongst you, cement mixing is not dissimilar to mixing a very large cake, which I suppose doesn’t say much for my cakes. It’s very therapeutic though, concrete; I now better understand Winston Churchill’s passion for building walls. There was a bit of a low point this morning when I tripped and fell flat on my face, leaving 25kg of sloppy concrete mix to ooze in my wake, but other than that I think I did quite well. Although I’m obviously no expert, one top tip would be to keep the dogs well out of the way, because they will be tempted to come and ‘help’:
pawprint
We’re in the process of building another bathroom – my husband is a big fan; adding on bathrooms is a hobby of his. If publications such as ‘Bathroom Weekly’ or ‘Faucets and Drains Today’ existed, he would certainly subscribe. In our previous house, last count, we had ten bathrooms. This is why we had to sell really – we had exhausted its bathroom potential. We’ve been in our present house for seven years and are now on our fourth. Hopefully we won’t break through the bathroom ceiling any time soon though because I like it here…
This is a recipe for a quick, easy but nonetheless delicious risotto. It never fails to please. And if ever you need advice on mixing cement, I’m your girl.
Ingredients (serves 4)
2 tablespoons coconut oil
3 shallots, finely chopped
1 red pepper, sliced and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon of fresh ginger, grated
280g rice (I used whole basmati)
120ml white wine
700ml chicken or vegetable stock
Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
1 teaspoon chilli powder
150g sweetcorn
200ml coconut milk
300g tinned crabmeat
Handful of fresh basil, shredded
Heat the oil in large pan over a low heat, add the shallots and cook for five minutes until softened. Add the pepper, garlic and ginger and cook a little more. Add the rice and stir until it’s well coated with oil. Pour in the wine, stirring until all the liquid has been absorbed. Add the stock little by little and stir until almost completely absorbed. Repeat this process, adding the stock a ladle at a time, stirring constantly until all the stock has been used up (about 20 minutes). Add the seasoning and you can add more water if the rice isn’t cooked (this will be the case if you’re using whole basmati, as I did). Add the sweetcorn and coconut milk, stirring until the coconut milk absorbs. Add the crabmeat, cover and leave to heat through for about five minutes. Add the shredded basil to serve.

8 Comments

  • apuginthekitchen

    Ten bathrooms, really???? Wow. Your husband does love bathrooms right and 4 I think is a very good number one for each and a guest bath. I just bought some arborio rice and have been craving risotto. Love this recipe the crab is a lovely idea. Hugs to Hugo and Java from Nando.

    • The Healthy Epicurean

      He sure does! And yes – you’re right – one each. This most recent one is for Léo because he leaves the top off the shower gel when he uses his shower which drives him crazy!!! This risotto would work perfectly with arborio rice obviously. Hope you like it if you do make it. Hugo and Java send their love and gentle hugs to Nando.

  • ourfrenchoasis

    The mind boggles – ten bathrooms!!! Well I am guessing you are all super super clean! I wonder how the locals see this, one bathroom is the norm in these older houses!

    • The Healthy Epicurean

      😀 We are super-clean some of the time, but then we do get super-dirty too, what with the horses etc… I must say that bathrooms are second only to kitchens in importance for me. We only have one kitchen though… 😉

  • tinywhitecottage

    Oh delicious! Love the idea of crab with coconut. And I love the idea of 4 bathrooms too! We are a family of 3 with only 1 bathroom. 🙁 And my husband is a carpenter! Go figure…

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