Risotto! Tomato and Tuna!

This is incredibly hearty and filling stuff, and should make around 6 large serves. Honestly, a small bowl is usually enough, and lasts us about 3 days in a household of big eaters. The boys in our house aren't big vege eaters, but apparently this disguises the taste pretty well, and i'm quite keen on it for the filling / good taste value.

I will include costs for ingredients where I am fairly certain of costs, but not so much for quantities of things I'd assume you would have in the cupboard or fridge. (See post Starting your Poor Man's Kitchen).

Ingredients

800 gm Whole Peeled Tomatoes $2.80
2 Cups Arborio Rice $3.99
400gm Tuna in Brine (Coles Smartbuy) $2.03
1 Small Onion $0.25
1 Red Capsicum $3.98/kg
1 Zuchinni $2.48/kg
A couple of Small mushrooms (If you have them growing and they aren't the type that kill you. We regularly add the garden's liberal supply, and none of us have died or ended up attempting to climb through keyholes)
Chicken Stock - Will end up being about 8 Cups
Liberal Splash of Olive Oil
2 Cloves of Garlic or equivalent
Cheese. Parmesan best but whatever you have
Tobasco Sauce for a bit of Flavouring

TOTAL
$9.07

1. Chop your veges, if you do this now, it's way easier later. Open your cans of Tomato and Tuna, Be ready, cause this needs to be stirred CONSTANTLY if you don't want to be spending the next week attempting to scrape the world's thickest goo out of the bottom of your large saucepan / pot.

2. Heat olive oil in LARGE pot. I say large because it will expand in a big, chunky way. Add onions and garlic, cook until onions start to go clear.

3. Add rice, stir until coated lightly with the olive oil. This has a fancy name I forget, but as a guide I usually wait until the rice looks nice and greasy. Cook on Low/ Medium

4. One cup at a time, begin adding stock. The guide for when to add the next is when the cup you have added seems to have been absorbed by the greedy arborio. 8 cups is a guide, if it needs more, the rice will still be kind of hard. Don't Panic though, we're not quite done. Stir whilst this is happening.

5. Add your can of tomatoes. Use a spoon or knife to cut them into more manageable segments. Add the entire can, juice and all, this all adds to the flavour. This will help to add moisture to the rice too, and should be absorbed in the same fashion the stock was. CONTINUE STIRRING

6. Add your veges. Capsicum, Zuchinni, Mushrooms if you have them, and Tuna. Continue Stirring.

7. Test your goo. If the rice is reasonably tender, as are your veges, you're almost there. If not, persist, add a small amount more stock and keep stirring. If everything is nice and tender, add your cheese and stir quickly.

8. To serve, spoon your goop into a bowl, top with some tobasco for a bit of extra flavour, and more parmesan (the fresh stuff, i haven't tried the powdery dandruff stuff on it, but I can't imagine it tasting good) Put the rest into a refrigerator safe container whilst it's still reasonably able to be scraped out. I would advice you chuck your saucepan straight in the sink to soak, don't let it dry or you'll have a heck of a time getting it back out. Keeps for about 4 days I would imagine.

Warning for Students: Rice is one of those things it is quite easy to give yourself food poisoning with. From what I've learnt in uni (Yes! a reputable place for learning) it's almost easier than chicken. Make sure your rice is soft, and make sure you're reheating things properly, give it a stir and chuck it back in your heating source for another few seconds. Make it hot enough to scald off your taste buds, I would rather not encourage anyone to get anything nasty.