Recipe Crayfish Risotto with Saffron and Sun Dried Tomato with Germinated Brown Rice

Crayfish Lobster Risotto with Saffron and Sun Dried Tomato, Served with Crispy Chorizo, Cherry Tomato Confit, Sisho Leaves Tempura and Micro Herbs

Crayfish Lobster Risotto with Saffron and Sun Dried Tomato, Served with Crispy Chorizo, Cherry Tomato Confit, Sisho Leaves Tempura and Micro Herbs. Risotto is a classic Italian rice dish cooked in broth into a thick creamy consistency once the rice losen it’s starch and cooked. The broth for cooking the risotto rice maybe based of meat, seafoods, or vegetables and spiced with may kind of herbs and spices. Today i’m making risotto using crayfish lobster and then spiced it with Spanish saffron and Homemade Sun Dried Tomato.

Crayfish Risotto with Saffron and Sun Dried Tomato

Soaking Germinated Brown Rice Overnight to Let the Rice Sprouting, Smelly Nutricious Goodness!!!

I’m using germinated brown rice for making this crayfish lobster risotto. Germinated brown rice is unpolished brown rice that has been allowed to sprouted to enhanced the flavour and nutrients before cooked. The brown rice need to be soaked in warm water overnight to let the seed germinating or sprouting before cooked. Sprouted brown rice risotto is a packed with more nutrients and enzyms such as γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) compared to the polished regular rice. Slow and low temperature of risotto is the best way to kept the super food germinated brown rice nutrients.

My bucked of Live Crayfish or Yabbies from Hero Supermarket @Kemang, Jakarta

Tiny Cryfish Beast, Looks Delicious Already!!! Lol

Crayfish is a type of freshwater lobster that had a very delicated sweet and succulent tiny tail and clawn meat once it cooked properly. Crayfish also known as crawfish, crawdads, yabbies, or mudbugs, and in Indonesia we used to called it lobster air tawar. Crayfish lobster popularity as s source of protein and as an ornametal aquarium pets increased recently here in Indonesia. I purchased this live crayfish at Hero Supermarket Kemang, Jakarta, it tagged 22 USD for a kilo and you’ve got 4 to 6 inches size crayfish weighed about 30-50 grams for each of it. You also can purchased the frozen yabbies or crayfish on Gourmet Supermarket like Food Hall and Ranch Market in Jakarta.

Homemade Sun Dried Tomato, Sweet Fruity Tangylicious!!!

My Homemade Sun Dried Tomato give a nice tangy sweet fruity flavour into the risotto. Before using it in my risotto, you gotta made the sun dried tomato broth first. Simply finely chopped  1/2 cup sun dried tomato (i’m actually using half  sun dried tomato and half sun dried cherry tomato) and soaked it overnight in the refrigerator to soften and infused the flavour into the soaking water. Firstly in the morning, i add some water until the volume reach about 1500 ml and bring it to boil before poached the lobster. The sun dried tomato broth than reduced into half within the addition of remaining crayfish head and shell. The sun dried tomato and crayfish infused broth then strained with cheesecloth before used it to cooked the crayfish risotto.

Malika Spanish Saffron

Premium Grade-One Genuine Spanish Saffron

The is genuine premium grade-one Spanish Saffron with it’s pungent aromas and vivid red color. I was lucky enough found this Spanish saffron thread at Kemchick Supermarket Kemang, Jakarta. One small pack (1 gram) of Malika Spanish Saffron tagged 12 USD, kinda pricey but i think it’s worth every cent eversince finding Spanish saffron isn’t that easy here in Indonesia.

Crawfish Risotto with Bright Reddish Yellow Saffron and Sun Dried Tomato Color

Look out the sexy color of the  crawfish risotto, tempting bright reddish yellow from the saffron and the sun dried tomato broth. Strained sun dried tomato and crayfish shell infussien broth made the risotto clear. The saffron and sun dried tomato didn’t just added color into the crayfish risotto, but also bring delighfully tangy and pungent aromas which can manipulate the off-aromas of germinated brown rice

Well Done Germinated Brown Rice Risotto with Crayfish, Saffron and Sun Dried Tomato

Crayfish brown rice risotto taste damn delicious! the texture cooked of germinated short grain brown rice is fine and creamy just like my previously Porcini Mushrooms Risotto Recipe that using regular polished brown rice. The cooked sprouted brown rice had a mild specific scent that blend together with the saffron. I think the aromas of raw sprouted or germinated brown rice is quite strong, either you love or hate it, nothing in beetween. I personaly love the scent, the stingkier the better for me, lol. Raw sprouted rice aromas may off the appetite for some people, but once cooked the smells is reduced and becomes milder, but if you want to get rid the aromas, you may using green tea solution for soaking the brown rice.

The Crayfish Lobster Tail Meat Over Crispy Choriso and Saffron and Sun Dried Tomato Broth Risotto

Crayfish Lobster Risotto with Saffron and Sun Dried Tomato: Creamy, Aromatic, Tangy and Refreshing Flavour

Before making the crayfish risotto, you need to deal with the freshwater lobster yabbies first. Dealing with live crayfish need some precautions, first the clawn may harm you and it’s really painfull once it bitting your finger, so don’t play with it. Some people having no problem putting crawling and moving live crayfish on hard boiling hot water, but my grandma said it bring a bad karma, so she suggest to put the crayfish unconcious before cooked.  I threat  my crayfish just like i prepared my live spinny sea lobster for making Live Spinny Lobster Ceviche Recipe; so i put the crayfish on icy water bath to put it in sleep and made it’s more easy to handle.

Saffron and Sun Dried Tomato Crayfish Lobster Risotto

The Succulent and Sweet Crayfish Tail and Clawn Meat

The lobster poached in the sun dried tomato broth to infused the nice sea flavour into the risotto. The crayfish tail meat carefully extracted from it’s shell using bare hands, while the clawn using scissors to cut off the edge before plug out from the claws. My grandma suggest to toasted the crayfish shell and head with a little bit of olive oil first to let the aromas stronger before boiled it within the sun dried tomato broth to let the flavour of crayfish infused within the broth.

Homemade Fine Dinning Quality Crayfish Risotto

Now it’s the time for making the crayfish risotto, onion and garlic sauteed with butter until translucent and then the soaked germinated brown rice added and sauteed until slighly each grain covered with the butter. The chopped lobster meat and saffron then added, then a laddle of sun dried tomato broth  added into the risotto. The risotto is on the critical phase now, you need to keep stirring while bring the broth boiled and evaporated over medium flame heat stove. The sun dried tomato broth added into the risotto laddle by laddle and you allowed to added the broth only once the the previously added laddle of broth compeletely evaporated. Continously stirred the grain of the brown rice made sure all the grain cooked evenly and prevent the rice sticking in the bottom of the pan. This steps is used to prevent the risotto over- or undercooked.

Well Done Throughly Cooked Crayfish Risotto with Germinated Brown Rice

The authentic doneness of risotto rice is al dente, the short grain brown rice is tender and cooked, while the inside of the brown rice grain still got a slighly bitting sensation, but eversince my grandma used to had a compeletely tender and throughly cooked rice just like most Asian people consumes, so i made this risotto according to my grandma’s preference.

Damn Delicious Saffron & Sun Dried Tomato Crayfish Risotto!!!

After all, the crayfish lobster risotto with germinated brown rice taste damn delicious!!! it’s creamy, tender and got aromatic saffron flavour with a blend of sweet tangy flavour of sun dried tomato broth. The short grain germinated brown rice contain less amilopectin and starches compare to the arborio or carnaroli rice, thus made the germinated brown rice risotto seems not as smooth and creamy as usual,  but i  think the texture is still quite creamy and smooth when you served the brown rice risotto right away after cooked.

Recipe Crayfish Lobster Risotto with Germinated Brown Rice, Saffron and Sun Dried Tomato Broth

Recipe Crayfish Lobster Risotto with Germinated Brown Rice, Saffron and Sun Dried Tomato Broth:

• 500 grams live Crayfish (about 10-12)
• 2 cups germinated brown rice , washed with tab water and soaked in room temperature (about 28 C) overnight, drained, set aside
  
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 shallots, finely chopped
• 1 cup Homemade Sun Dried Tomato, (roughly shopped and soaked overnight inthe fridge with one cup water)
• 50 grams butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 50 gr (about 4 tbsp) grada padano cheese or any of your favourite
  
• salt and pepper to taste
• 750 ml  sun dried tomato broth(add more water if needed)
  

Garnish :

• Homemade Dry Cured Spanish Choriso Sausage,thinly sliced, baked in the oven until crispy
• Lemon basil and black mustard micro herbs
• Daikon radish sprout
• Homemade Cherry Tomato Confit
• Homemade Basil Infused Oil

Instruction:

How to Make Crayfish and Sun Dried Tomato Infussion Broth:

1. Put the crayfish lobster to icy bath ot simply put the bag in the freezer for about 10 minutes until the  crayfish unconcious, Clean and brush the crayfish shell and clean it with ice cold water
2. In a medium size sauce pan, add some water into the soaked sun dried tomato until it reach 1500 ml, bring it to boil then reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer for about 5 minutes
3. Meanwhile, bring the sun dried tomato broth  into hard boil then poached the unconcious crayfish for about 2-3 minutes until cooked
4. Put the poached crayfish in the icy bath to prevent it overcooked, carefully extract the meat from the tail and the clawn  with scissor, set aside
5. Heat up 1 tbsp olive oil in the skillet and toasted the remaining crayfish shell and head until fragrance, turn off the heat and added the lobster shell and head into the sun dried tomato broth
6. Continue simmer the sun dried broth until all the flavour of the the crayfish head and shell extracted into the broth and the broth reduced into half it’s original volume
7. Strain the broth from the sun dried tomato pulp and crayfish shell, set aside and keep it warm before used to make the crayfish risotto.

How To Make Crayfish Lobster Risotto with Saffron and Sun Dried Tomato Broth :

1. In a heavy bottom non stick sauce pan, heat up the butter and olive oil.
2. Add the chopped onion, shallot and garlic,  stirring occasionally, until translucent but not browned
3. Add the drained germinated brown rice, saffron and stir to combine throughly and to ensure that each grain of rice is coated with butter, continue to stir for another 5 minutes
   
4. Add the wine and cook, stirring, until the liquid is absorbed.
5. Add 1 cup of the broth and cook, stirring, until liquid is absorbed.
6. Repeat with a second cup of broth. After that batch is absorbed repeat with 1/2 cup amounts until the rice is tender, about 25-30 minutes total.
7. Stir in the grada padano cheese
   
8. Serve the crayfish lobster risotto with saffron and sun dried tomato both immediately with the garnish.

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