Sweet Potato and Eggplant Risotto

by Agustina Balcarce
(Beuda, Girona, Spain)

Sweet Potato and Eggplant Risotto

All the ingredients for this recipe should be very easy to find, living in Spain can be hard for a vegan as some of the more special products just don't exist here but it also makes one realize they aren't really all that necessary. This was inspired by two or even three recipes and I can't exactly remember which ones but I think they were from the fatfreevegan blog and the post punk kitchen, or the Vegan Brunch book. Basically I knew I wanted to make risotto and I knew I had some squash and sweet potatoes ;)

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes
½ butternut squash
1 medium sized aubergine
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp thyme
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
½ cup non dairy milk
½ cup white wine
3-4 cups stock (warm, might require extra depending on the rice)
about 1 cup of risotto rice.

Directions:
-Peel and cube sweet potatoes and squash, steam or boil till soft.

-Cube the aubergine (small)

-Combine the sweet potatoes and squash in a bowl with thyme, salt, cinnamon and the non dairy milk and blend until completely pureed.
-Put 1-2 Tbsp of olive in pan, when hot add the finely chopped garlic, fry for under a min and add the rice and the wine. leave 3 min while stirring and then add some stock.. keep stirring and adding stock for about 15 min then add aubergine and continue adding stock and stirring for another 15 min, once done mix in the puree ( you might not want to use all of it just add bit by bit as you stir it in and get it to your desired texture, remember that as it cools down it also dries up so if it seems a bit on the liquidy side its ok.

You might want to vary the recipe by replacing the eggplant with zucchini or another vegetable of your choice. Red bell peppers would probably work nicely too. And if you're not too into garlic use a bit less!

Enjoy!