Although I enjoy most fish, my favourite seafood is prawns. I just love them because they’re so ‘meaty’, but at the same time they taste so light and fresh and they’re also delightfully low FODMAP. However, for all that prawns could be categorised in my top 10 list of favourite foods, I don’t cook with them very often. Part of this is due to their cost because they’re not exactly cheap to buy, but also it’s due to the fact that I don’t have many recipes at hand which call for prawns. This may have to change though, now that I’ve created this cracking prawn risotto recipe.

One question I get asked all the time is what low FODMAP stock I use because a lot of the stock cubes which are on the supermarket shelves contain onion and/or garlic. Some people who eat a low FODMAP diet can find that their systems are okay with a small amount of onion and garlic, such as the quantity found in stock cubes. However, others cannot tolerate it in their diets at all. There are a couple of options if you’re very sensitive to onion or garlic though.

The first is Massel ‘s Vegetable Stock Cubes which are completely free of onion or garlic. I’ve tried this stock and it’s quite nice and it certainly does the job well. The second option is Casa de Sante’s low FODMAP Vegetable Stock Powder which is my preferred choice because I like the background herbiness it brings to meals. It’s also officially certified by FODMAP Friendly. If you’d like, you can buy either of these options online by clicking on the names of the products.

Prawns work brilliantly in a risotto because they provide a lightness of texture and flavour within what is a very rich cheesy rice dish, but they don’t get lost in it either. As a result, this prawn risotto is a beautiful combination of soft, unctuous, vegetable stock-swollen grains of rice which are coated in creamy melted parmesan cheese and is studded with tender little chunks of green pepper and tomato and a generous amount of delicate little flavourful prawns. It’s truly a celebration of one of Neptune’s best subjects.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter (or oil)

2 tsps dried oregano

100g green bell pepper (diced)

2 fresh common tomatoes (diced)

300g arborio rice

20 black olives (chopped)

3 vegetable stock cubes (or 3 tsps of Casa de Sante’s low FODMAP Vegetable Stock Powder)

1 litre of boiling water (possibly more)

120g grated parmesan (or non-dairy version)

300g cooked prawns

Method:

Use the 3 vegetable stock cubes and boiling water to make a vegetable stock.

Melt the butter or oil in a large saucepan or frying pan and add the dried oregano.

Add the rice and stock and cook, stirring regularly, until the rice is almost soft. (You might need to add more water.)

Add the diced peppers, tomatoes, olives and prawns and cook until the rice is soft and the risotto is hot.

Add the parmesan and stir well before serving.

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