Creamy Pumpkin Risotto (with freekah) - merlot

[Thermomixer]

Creamy Pumpkin Risotto (with freekah)

1 clove garlic
1 onion
1 carrot
1 zucchini
1 tomato, quartered
1+half cups diced pumpkin
100ml plain yoghurt
400ml water
1 tablespoon vegetable stock
handful of whole almonds
half cup freekah
half cup arborio rice

Chop garlic and onion finely.
Add carrot and zucchini, chop on speed 5 for several seconds. Add oil and cook on 100'C for 3min on speed 1.
Add water, yoghurt, stock, tomato and pumpkin. Cook on 100'C for 5min on speed 1.
Add almonds and freekah and cook at 100'C for another 7min on reverse speed 1.
Add arborio rice and cook at 100'C for another 14min on reverse speed soft.
Leave it to sit for a couple of minutes with the lid on before serving.

[judydawn]

What is freekah Thermomixer 

[Katya]

I didn't know either JD     I've googled it and found out it's a green wheat supergrain.   I'll have to search out somewhere to buy it now 

[faffa_70]

Google is my friend JD - this is what Wikipedia has to say about it

Freekeh is a cereal food made from green wheat that goes through a roasting process in its production. It is an Arab dish commonly eaten in Jordan, Syria and the Palestinian territories, but can be found in Egypt, Tunisia  and Algeria, and elsewhere throughout the Arab world. The wheat is harvested while the grains are yellow and the seeds are still soft; it is then piled and sun-dried. The piles are then carefully set on fire so only the straw and chaff burn and not the seeds. It is the high moisture content of the seeds that prevents them from burning. The now roasted wheat undergoes further thrashing and sun-drying to make the flavor, texture, and color uniform. It is this thrashing or rubbing process of the grains that gives this food its name, farīk or “rubbed.” The seeds are now cracked into smaller pieces so they look like a green bulgur

another interesting ingredient for us to try  

[judydawn]

Ok, thanks for that.  How you feeling these days Kathryn? 

[Thermomixer]

Maggie Beer uses freekah a bit.  I made a chicken with freekah and preserved lemon dish by her, but haven't written it up 

[merlot]

you can get Freekah in regular supermarkets. I get mine from Coles in the health food section. It's not expensive and it has a lovely nutty flavour and goes great in combo with rice.

I sometimes use all freekah in a recipe, but you don't need to. I think the flavour is better if half-half with rice.

[meganjane]

I'll have to look for it at my Woolies. You can get it online here, but you have to get 4kgs and that's in 10 x 400g boxes.

[merlot]

strangely enough that is the exact same brand that i buy from Coles and the box is about $3.00 (compared to almost $5 through that site).

[meganjane]

strangely enough that is the exact same brand that i buy from Coles and the box is about $3.00 (compared to almost $5 through that site).

Crazy! Plus there's postage costs. I hope that Woolies will get it in. Our Woolies is pretty proactive when it comes to stocking health foods and Asian foods. We have a large Malay contingent in Katanning, so they have a lot of malay ingredients.

[Tebasile]

This risotto recipe sounds delicious. Thank you Merlot and Thermomixer. Frikeeh must be similar to the german Gruenkern It is roasted green spelt, has a fantastic taste and is great in vegetarian cooking for sauces, veggieburgers, dumplings, sandwichspread. I found some nice freekeh recipes , easy to adapt.

[Thermomixer]

Thanks tebasile - yes sounds the same - green wheat.

Thanks for the links too.

[cookie1]

I bought some freekah this morning so now I must try it.

[maddy]

I went on a freekah search today to 3 s/markets.....nada......thought the health food would stock it......a 16 y.o. boy had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.  I then asked if they had rosewater essence.......he just stared at me with a blank face!   
Particulary in a health food store.....why employ a child that has absolutely no clue of what any product is?

[Very Happy Jan]

Hi Maddy Try this site to see if it's available at a Coles near you.

http://www.greenwheatfreekeh.com.au/sales.php