Sweet risotto with Azuki

My mother-in-law likes the rice pudding (rice cooked with milk, egg and raisin) that sold at supermarkets. But this one I prepared is quite different, and includes azuki (tiny red beans) because I always miss my mom's azuki dessert.

If you are Asian you surely know azuki dessert... the beans boiled in water, with a lot of raw cane sugar and a bit of Mandarin orange's peel. My mom liked to throw in a handful of glutinous rice, which I loved so much that I'd fish out the rice from the bean pudding to fill up my bowl. Such a patience didn't extend to cooking azuki myself this time though. In this recipe I used cooked azuki from can, which still tasted wonderful, specially it didn't need much so I rather not to slave myself in kitchen.

Recipe of sweet risotto with azuki

yield: 2 servings

• 3 Tbps cooked azuki (I used ones from can)
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup of azuki infused syrup (from can as well)
• 160 g Italian rice, I used Carnavoli
• some water, simmering
• 1 Tbp butter
• zest from 1/2 orange
• spoonfuls of mascarpone
• dash of vanilla essence

How-to:

1. Slowly melt the butter in a skillet, add rice and stir for a minute or two over medium-low heat. Add some simmering water, and the azuki syrup, stirring occasionally until the rice is almost done.
2. Last minute add vanilla, orange zest and spoonfuls of azuki and mascarpone. Serve immediately.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------