Banana Risotto

Name: Banana Risotto: Sweet Breakfast Rice with Raisins
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Arborio rice 1 cup (180 g); Hot water 0.8 l; Bananas 2; Seedless raisins 2-3 tbsp (21–32 g); Olive oil 2-3 tbsp; Grated Parmesan 1 tbsp (plus a pinch for serving) (7 g); Sugar 2 tsp (9 g); Vanilla, cinnamon to taste; Salt a pinch; Walnuts for serving, optional

☆ Rate it

45 mins

A simple breakfast dish that takes no special cooking skills: risotto with banana, made the Italian risotto way with raisins, cinnamon and vanilla added. It’s much easier than seafood risotto.

Many people trying Italian risotto for the first time are sure they’re eating rice porridge. In part, they’re right. Risotto is quite similar to porridge. Porridge is generally considered an almost liquid dish of grains or cereal cooked soft in water (or milk), with salt, sugar, honey, seasonings, fruit or jam added.

And who hasn’t eaten oatmeal? As engineer Garin said, it’s the food of athletes and moral people. A very, very healthy breakfast, especially popular in Scotland (not England). I’ll admit I can’t stand porridge, but I like oatmeal with candied fruit and dried apricots, even better with honey poured over it.

In China, salted, long-cooked rice porridge (粥; zhōu) is a frequent guest on the breakfast table, especially in the south of the country. It’s often eaten with radish or cabbage (千年蛋). Pea porridge is the national dish of an island state in South America.

With all the abundance of risotto recipes, sweet and dessert risottos have firmly carved out their own niche and are a welcome treat. Add a fruit filling to rice and you get a delicious breakfast dish. I don’t know whether there are any kids who wouldn’t want to eat rice with banana and raisins. A similar sweet rice is almond risotto, and in summer, strawberry risotto. I described the basic cooking technique in detail in my recipe for risotto with vegetables.

Ingredients

2 servings

Arborio rice 1 cup (180 g)
Hot water 0.8 l
Bananas 2
Seedless raisins 2-3 tbsp (21–32 g)
Olive oil 2-3 tbsp
Grated Parmesan 1 tbsp (plus a pinch for serving) (7 g)
Sugar 2 tsp (9 g)
Vanilla, cinnamon to taste
Salt a pinch
Walnuts for serving, optional

Step-by-step recipe

Turn on cook modeKeeps your screen from turning off while the recipe is open

Preparing the ingredients

Prepare the rice. Banana rice porridge is made with Italian rice, such as Arborio, Carnaroli or others with a high starch content. This matters if you want a creamy rice porridge rather than pilaf or mush. It’s worth saying that Arborio can absorb several times more liquid than the rice we’re used to.

Prepare the raisins and bananas. You need seedless raisins: pick them over and rinse them. The bananas should be slightly underripe, with greenish skin, preferably small. Peel the bananas and slice them crosswise with a sharp knife into rounds 8–10 mm thick.

Fried bananas

Fry the bananas until golden. Heat half of the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Be sure to let the oil heat for 2–3 mins to get rid of the distinctive smell of natural olive oil. Fry the sliced bananas on both sides until a pleasant golden crust forms, and transfer them to a plate.
Greenish bananas fry beautifully and hold their shape well. Ripe and very ripe bananas usually turn to purée when fried, so a dessert of fried bananas is better made with batter or breading.

Risotto

Fry the rice in oil. Add the remaining olive oil to the pan, let it heat for a few minutes, and fry the rice for 2–3 mins over medium heat, stirring. The rice should toast in the oil, become coated with a film of oil and turn pearly and translucent.
Pour 0.5 cup of boiling water (100 ml) over the rice. Usually broth, vegetable or chicken, is added to risotto, but this isn’t a classic risotto, and it’s sweet besides. So it’s better to use plain water.

Add the raisins and spices and cook the rice, adding hot water as it goes. Once the first portion of water is absorbed, add the raisins, 2 tsp of sugar (9 g), a pinch of salt, and cinnamon and vanilla to taste, and stir. Add hot water in small portions as the rice absorbs it, stirring, until the rice is almost done.
Add the fried bananas and finish under a lid. When the rice is almost cooked, add the bananas and stir very gently so they don’t fall apart. Add a little liquid and, covering with a lid, bring the dish to doneness over low heat. The consistency of banana rice porridge should resemble a fairly loose rice porridge.
Stir in the Parmesan. Ideally, the cooked rice still has a barely perceptible firmness inside. Sprinkle the finished banana rice with finely grated Parmesan and stir. Keep it on the heat for just one more minute.

Serving

Divide the banana rice among plates right away.
Before serving, you can sprinkle the rice with an extra pinch of Parmesan and finely ground walnuts, toasted beforehand in a dry pan until fragrant.

Calories and macros

640 kcal

Serving ≈ 420 g

Protein8 g5% of kcal
Fat18 g26% of kcal
Carbs109 g69% of kcal

100 g154 kcalProtein 1.9 gFat 4.4 gCarbs 26.2 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

Enjoyed the recipe? Pick me as a preferred source on Google, and you'll see my recipes more often in search. Choose on Google →

How did you like this recipe?

Thanks for rating!