Creamy Chicken Risotto

Looks like risotto is becoming one of my favorite dishes. The truth is, since I'm making every risotto creamy, I like it more. The previous version was different and I'm not saying it wasn't good as that's how I have been cooking rice for years, but this is better.

Not long ago I posted a couple of risotto recipes in this community, one of which was with sausage. I know there are many users who can't eat pork, so today I'm going to show you a chicken risotto recipe. But the real reason I wanted to make this dish is another.

Over the years, if you're cooking regularly, you most likely develop a certain routine and unless you're an adventurous cook, you stick to your habits and well known recipes. I like to try out new recipes, but I'm not so brave when it comes to spices. Some I'm not allowed to eat, some I don't like.

When I decided I'm going to cook chicken risotto, was thinking what kind of green spices I used to use for this, but could not remember. Then I realized that I used to use none 😳, so it was just about time to experiment a little.

Bay leave is one of the spices I love a lot, but has limited use in my kitchen. Now that I think of, I'm using it for potato soup, goulash, tomato sauce, egg soup and maybe a couple of dishes I don't remember now. So I thought let's use bay leaves for chicken risotto as it can only be good.

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 2 big onions, finely chopped,
• 4 tbs olive oil,
• 4 cloves garlic,
• 2 big chicken breasts,
• 250g rice,
• 2 tsp salt,
• 2 tsp red paprika powder,
• 2 tsp Knorr granulate,
• 5 - 6 black pepper,
• 1 big bay leaf,
• 50 g smoked salami (optional).

Method

The method is as simple as it can be, so don't worry, no special cooking skill is needed for this recipe.

Add oil to the cooking pan, add the finely chopped onion and garlic and sauté.

Salami normally is not required, only chicken breast but I used it as a trick. This salami is smoked and spicy, so I added some to enrich the flavor of the risotto. So I cut the salami into small pieces and added to the onion.

Cut the chicken breasts into small pieces and add to the pan, stir continuously till it's white.

After that I added the salt, pepper, bay leaf and finally the red paprika and mixed it well. Right after I added some water to make sure the paprika didn't burn.

Finally I added the rice and water to cover.

The last one was the Knorr granulate, which is a mix of dried vegetables and salt.

The trick here is to add as little water as possible and add more later, as much as it is needed, till the rice is tender. Stir continuously, till the meat and the rice is tender.

Chicken breast doesn't need a long cooking time, that is why I added the rice and the meat the same time. If you're using pork or beef, you need to cook the meat first and add the rice when the meat is almost ready. I think I needed 25 minutes at medium heat.

So this was the first time I used bay leaf with rice and I can assure you, it wasn't the last time as I liked the outcome. It give the whole dish a nice flavor.

And voilà! The creamy chicken risotto is ready. Anyone?

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