Have you ever had that moment, when you were in the midst of cooking up a meal, and you realize you don't have all the right ingredients for it at home? Well, I certainly have... So what do you do? You go to the closest supermarket and get the missing ingredient(s). Or, you try and make it work with what you have at home. That's how this one put curry risotto came alive. I was making a delicious curry but when I wanted to cook the rice I found out I only had risotto rice left. So, I thought I'd give it a go with risotto rice and, I might be a little biast, but it turned out absolutely delicious, and bonus points: it gave me less dishes to do as well. It's all made in one pot. Win win! I tweaked my original curry recipe here and there so now it's not just an 'accident'. No, this Curry Risotto is a dish that deserves a recipe of their own! So here you have it: One Pot Curry Risotto, let's start cooking!

Step 1: Gather Ingredients

So first things first: gather your ingredients. You will need for 4 people:

- 2 tablespoons olive oil

- 1 medium/small onion

- 1 clove of garlic

- 1,5 cm of fresh ginger

- 250 gr of mushrooms

- 1 bell pepper (color of your choice)

- 3 handfuls of fresh spinach

- 300 gr risotto rice (arborio)

- 400 ml coconut milk

- 500 ml boiling water

- about 5 teaspoons green curry paste (depending on how strong your paste is a little more or a little less)

- 60 gr rasped parmesan

- juice of half a lime

- a few sprigs of coriander

Step 2: Oil

Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a medium sized pot. I'm using my favorite pot of all time: a 24 cm Le Creuset cast iron pot which I found second hand for 30 euros. It's a bit damaged but it still works wonderfully.

Step 3: Heat Up

Turn on your stove on a medium heat and let the pot become warm.

Step 4: Onion

Whilst you're waiting for you pot to heat up start cutting your medium yellow onion in small bits:

- Cut the onion length wise in half (so you cut through the roots)

- Peel of the skin

- Cut of the side where there are no roots. Keep the roots intact.

- Cut the onion vertically in thin 'strips'. Make sure to not cut through the roots. Keep these intact. It makes the cutting a lot easier.

- Now cut the onion horizontally in thin strips. Start the furthest away from the roots and finish at the roots.

- Repeat with the other half

There you have your beautiful diced onion!

Step 5: Fry Onion

By now your pot should be warm. Add the onion to the pot and let it fry for about 5 minutes. Don't put the heat too high or they will burn instead of soften.

Step 6: Cut Garlic

Whilst your onion is slowly softening start cutting your garlic clove.The easiest way to take off the peel of the clove is to smash the clove with your knife (see photo's). After the skin is off you take the same approach you had when cutting the onion: leave the little 'roots' intact and cut vertically, then horizontally.

Step 7: Peel and Cut Ginger

Whilst stirring from time to time in your onions it is time to peel and cut your knob of ginger. The easiest way to peel your ginger is by using a teaspoon: scrape the peel off with the edge of the teaspoon. Then finely chop your peeled knob of ginger.

Step 8: Add Garlic and Ginger

After about 5 minutes your onions should be a little glazy and already softer then they were at the start. Now it's time to add your chopped garlic and ginger. The reason why we only add them now and not at the same time as the onion is that the garlic and ginger tend to start burning quite quickly, whilst the onion can take some time to fry. So we add them in a little later.

Take about 2-3 minutes more to fry the garlic and ginger and let their aromas spread. Again: medium low heat. If you see that the garlic starts to brown too quick turn down your heat.

Step 9: Cut Mushrooms

Now whilst you're waiting for the ginger and garlic to cook. Cut your mushrooms. Depending on the size of them either just slice them whole. Or you might need to cut them in half and then slice them. The mushrooms I get tend to have different sizes, so I see mushroom per mushroom if I need to cut them in half first. Just try and make them roughly the same size.

Step 10: Cut Bell Pepper

Now also slice your bell pepper in strips. Again: make them roughly the same size/width so they all cook evenly.

Step 11: Add Mushrooms and Bell Pepper

When the onion, garlic and ginger are softer add the sliced mushrooms and bell pepper. You can add the lid of the pot to keep the heat inside better. Just make sure you stir from time to time so they cook evenly.

Step 12: Turn on Watercooker

Now fill your watercooker with about 600ml water and turn it on. If you don't have a watercooker, no worries! Just skip this step.

Step 13: Add Rice

Now weigh out your rice (300 gr for 4 people). And, when the mushrooms and paprika are more or less cooked, add in the rice. You might think it's a bit weird to add the rice when there isn't any liquid yet. We add the rice now so the pores in the grains open up. This way it will absorb the liquid easier in the next steps.

Step 14: Add Curry Paste

Now it's also time to add the curry paste. The amount depends on your curry paste. I always advise to read the package and see what they recommend. Curry pastes can differ a lot in flavour strength. I started with three teaspoons. Stir it all together and cook it for about 2-3 minutes.

Step 15: Add Half the Coconut Milk

After about 2-3 minutes the pores in the rice must be open. Start by adding half of the coconut milk.

Step 16: Stir

We're starting to really make the risotto now. It depends a bit on your rice, but it will take about 15-20 minutes before the rice is cooked. We will keep adding liquid a little bit at a time and in between we keep stirring the rice.

Step 17: Add Other Half of Coconut Milk

Once the rice has absorbed some of the first 200ml of coconut milk it's time to add the other half. Again: keep stirring every minute or so.

Step 18: Measure Out Water

Whilst the rice is absorbing the coconut milk measure out about 500 ml of (hot) water.

Step 19: Add Water

Once you see the rice has thickened and absorbed some coconut milk add about 100-200 ml of the water. Keep stirring. Repeat this step 2 to 3 more times: when you see the rice has absorbed most of the liquid add some more liquid. 300 grams of rice will absorb about 900 ml of liquid: 400 ml coconut milk, 500 ml water)

Step 20: Taste Test

Now it's time for a taste test! Try a little bit of the risotto curry and check:

- How is the flavor? Can you taste the curry paste or do you think it could use some more? I added 2 more teaspoons of curry paste (which makes it 5 in total).

- Is the rice cooked or does it need a little more cooking time?

Step 21: Add Spinach and Parmesan

Once the risotto is basically cooked and finished add the spinach and parmesan. They will both only need about a minute or so to cook with the risotto.

Step 22: Turn Off the Stove

If you feel like the taste is good, the rice is cooked and the spinach is a little bit wilted turn off the stove. It is time to plate a dish!

Step 23: Plate a Dish

I'm pretty sure your kitchen is smelling delicious right now. For the finishing touch: add a few spoonfuls of the risotto curry to a plate. Squeeze some lime juice on top (this really finishes the flavor of the dish) and add a few leaves of coriander. Ofcourse you can leave it out if you don't like coriander. The same applies to the other vegetables. You can really make this recipe with almost any vegetable you have lying around or that is in season.