No-Meatball Creamy Curry Risotto

Perhaps my favorite part of getting to choose what my husband cooks on his nights, is coming up with new combinations to see what he’ll do with the dish. On this night, I wanted three things: curry, vegan meatballs and risotto.

It sounded strange even to my own ears, so I hit up the Google machine just in case I was sending him on a fool’s errand. Turns out, I was…kind of.

There were curry meatball dishes for all diets and lifestyles, but I guess most people are purists when it comes to risotto, where I am not. So this is what happens when you ask for curry, vegan meatballs and risotto for dinner.

Meatless Creamy Curry Risotto.

The key to any good curry is a well-stocked spice rack, or finding the right premade vegan curry sauce or seasoning packet. Those aren’t all that easy to come by here in Romania, which works out fine because my spice rack is more like a spice shelving unit and it borders on ridiculous.

You’ll need: ginger, garlic, turmeric, curry powder, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, cinnamon, cumin, smoky paprika, scotch bonnet chili powder, curry leaves (if you can find them) and garam masala.

My partner might have used more or less spices, but this is a good jumping off point for spices. Just taste as you cook and see if it needs more heat or more depth, and use your nose and your tongue to figure it out.

Now for the ingredients:
Arborio rice
Tomatoes
Tomato paste
GInger
Onion
Garlic
Coconut milk/cream
Vegan meatballs (we used Naturli brand, but pick your favorite or try something new!)
Broth (for the curry risotto)

The tricky part about this curry risotto dish is that you have to start the base of the curry first before you add the onion or arborio rice. Use oil or water and heat it up before adding the ground up spice mixture to the pot. Then add the onions and garlic to cook in the spices before you add in the arborio rice.

Now, you can slowly add broth as you would in a traditional vegan risotto dish. It should take about 20 minutes, give or take a few minutes.