Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for Marmite risotto with tomato and crispy chilli butter

From theguardian.com

This risotto uses just enough Marmite to achieve a savoury base, allowing outrageously flavourful tomatoes in chilli-oil butter to do the real talking 

Some people have quite big epiphanies, but not me. I had two small ones recently, though. The first was that I don’t much like the taste of vegetable stock. I appreciate what it’s trying to do, but if you add too much, in an instant, there is no return. This led to my second small-but-illuminating discovery, namely that Marmite makes great stock and, well, here we are. This risotto, contrary to what you might assume, is perfectly gentle (the Marmite is a back note); the party is in the tomato and chilli butter, in which I’ve used my favourite crispy chilli oil to give the cherry tomatoes some fireworks.

Marmite risotto with tomato and crispy chilli butter

Any crispy chilli oil would work, but my favourite, by Laoganma, can be found in the world food aisle of larger supermarkets, as well as in Chinese grocery stores and online.

Prep 10 min
Cook 45 min
Serves 4

For the butter
550g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp salt
30g non-dairy butter, unsalted
2 tbsp crispy chilli oil sediment

For the risotto
50g non-dairy butter, unsalted
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp fine sea salt
3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
350g arborio rice
175ml dry white wine
4 tsp Marmite (33g), dissolved in 1.1 litres just-boiled water

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 and line an oven tray with baking paper (mine is reusable). Put the tomatoes on the tray, coat with the tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle over the salt. Bake for 35 minutes, turning once halfway, until crumpled, sticky and browning (but not burnt). Remove and leave to cool.

To make the chilli butter, heat the butter and crispy chilli sediment in a small saucepan and, when the butter has melted, mix in the tomatoes and take off the heat.

Now for the risotto. Put 25g butter and all the olive oil in a medium pan set over a medium heat, then add the onion and a teaspoon of salt, and fry, stirring regularly, for eight minutes, until soft, translucent and golden (but not browning). Add the garlic, cook for a further two minutes, then add the rice and stir to coat. Pour in the wine, let it sizzle away, then add a ladleful of Marmite stock. Cook, stirring gently and regularly, until the stock is absorbed by the rice, then add another ladle of stock to the pan and repeat. Carry on cooking and adding stock as necessary, until the rice is tender and the risotto very creamy (rather than too stiff or too loose), which may take up to 30 minutes (if you run out of stock, add some freshly boiled water instead).

Take off the heat, stir through the remaining 25g butter and eat at once. If you have to leave it a few minutes before serving, you may need to add a splash of water to loosen the risotto. To serve, dollop into shallow bowls and put a couple of large spoonfuls of the tomato chilli butter in the centre of each portion.

Meera Sodha’s Marmite risotto with tomato and crispy chilli butter. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food assistant: Susanna Unsworth

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/sep/10/marmite-risotto-tomato-crispy-chilli-butter-recipe-meera-sodha-vegan