A couple of weeks a go I visited a much-hyped restaurant in Hangzhou called Osteria Pelecanus. This tiny restaurant serves Italian-influenced dishes created by the chef and receives almost all 5-star ratings on Dazhongdianping (a Chinese version of Yelp, Tripadvisor, Opentable etc.). People would wait for hours to get a seat there.
To be honest, the dishes are just mediocre to me. The only dish that impressed me was their signature dish, porcini risotto. I mean, with ingredients such as porcini, chicken broth, how can a risotto dish not be tasty?
I knew I could make this dish myself. So I came up with this easy-to-make recipe of porcini risotto. I assure you this is just as delicious as the ones you can find in Italian restaurants. 
Ingredients (serves 1):
- 1/2 tsb butter
- 45-50g risotto rice
- 7-9g dried porcini mushrooms
- 80g cremini mushrooms
- a pinch of minced garlic
- 1tbs white wine
- 500-700ml unsalted chicken broth*
- 1tbs grated parmesan cheese + more to garnish
- parsley (dried or fresh) to taste
- salt to taste
- black truffle paste optional
*adjust amount of chicken broth according to how well the rice absorbs water and personal peference
Instructions:
- Soak dried porcini mushrooms with warm water until soft. Tear mushrooms into small pieces. Save the soaking water for later.
- Heat a large pan, melt the butter. Add more butter if desire.
- Add sliced mushrooms, drained porcini and minced garlic. Saute for several minutes.
- Add risotto rice when the mushrooms shrink and saute for a minute.
- Add white wine and saute until liquid is completely absorbed by the rice.
- Add mushroom soaking water and about 1/4 of the unsalted chicken broth. Bring to boil, then switch to medium heat. Simmer and stir.
- Add more chicken broth when the liquid is almost completely absorbed by the rice. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until the risotto reaches ideal texture. I prefer the rice to be softer, the whole simmering process takes about 40 min.
- Remove from heat when the risotto is cooked. Add grated Parmesan cheese and parsley. Stir well. Add more salt if it’s not salty enough.
- Add a pinch of black truffle paste if desire. It’s gonna be heavenly!
Homemade just can’t be beat.
Enjoy!
