Don't Sweat the Aubergine

Sri Owen writes in
The Rice Book
.
    6 • Pre-soaked rice absorbs less water when cooking . I pre-soak rice when I make a pilaf ( see here ). The volume of the other ingredients, and their ability to absorb water, invalidate the standard water/rice ratios. But if you pour in just enough water to cover everything, you can be reasonably confident that the rice, if it has already been soaking for a while, will soften when cooked.
    I’ve assumed so far that you want separate grains of rice. Sometimes, you might want it sticky. Separate grains may be aesthetically pleasing, but they’re not easy to manipulate with chopsticks. Thai fragrant or jasmine rice is stickier than rices sold as long-grain, basmati or patna. You might also try a short-grain rice sometimes sold as glutinous (sticky) rice. It is useful for rice cakes or sushi, or for those rather cloying sweet dishes that feature in Asian cuisine.
RISOTTO
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HOW TO MAKE IT
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    Generous quantity for 2

    Heat the stock to simmering point, on the ring next to the one on which you’ll cook the risotto. Chop the onion finely and, in a heavy pan, 2 soften it in half the butter ( see here ). You want it to be thoroughly mellow, so you may need to cook it for 15 minutes; a shallot will take less. Add the rice, and turn it with the onion and butter until the grains turn milky. Now add a ladleful of stock; stir the rice and stock, which should be simmering gently, until the rice absorbs the liquid. Then add another ladleful, and wait for that to be absorbed before adding the next. 3 Keep stirring. Some rice will stick to the bottom of the pan; don’t worry about prising it loose and stirring it back into the risotto.
    You’ll be able to tell when the rice is nearly ready: it will plump up. Getting to this stage may take between 18 minutes and half an hour. Start tasting; you want the rice to be
al dente
(having a slight firmness to the bite), with a chalky quality. When it has got to that stage, turn off the heat (the risotto will continue to cook for a while, so the rice shouldn’t be soft already), and add the rest of the butter, along with the Parmesan. Put a lid on the pan. Leave for 2 minutes, to allow the butter and Parmesan to melt; stir them in. Taste for salt; you may find that the Parmesan has contributed all the salt you want.
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VARIATIONS
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    That is a very basic risotto; but all others, with the possible exception of seafood ones ( see here ), are cooked in this way. You merely add the ingredients you want, but you need to know when to add them.
    Risotto alla milanese, officially, includes beef marrow. Not many people use that nowadays, but they do use saffron – one little sachet , or half a teaspoon of strands dissolved in stock (which, officially, should be beef or veal stock), for 4 people. Add it towards the end of cooking; longer cooking diminishes its impact. You also include some wine, white or red; it goes in after you’ve coated the rice, and is cooked until it evaporates or the rice absorbs it ( see here ), before you start ladling in the stock. I recently used a glass of white wine in a risotto for 4 people; it turned out to be too much. Anna del Conte recommends 6 tablespoons.
    Other alcoholic options are vermouth, sherry and champagne. For an even richer finish, add some cream at the end of cooking instead of the butter.
    Bacon or pancetta risotto is good. Fry some cut-up bits of streaky bacon, or some lardons, or cubes of pancetta, until they are turning crispy, before adding the onion (if you put the bacon in second, it won’t go brown); some garlic would be nice too. Bacon goes very well with green vegetables, which you should cook apart and add to the risotto at the end of cooking, just to warm through, in order to retain their freshness of flavour. Boil some fresh or frozen peas in the stock (don’t drain the stock down the sink when they’re ready; pour it back into the stockpot); fry slices or matchsticks of courgettes; steam broccoli or broad beans; roast asparagus. If you’ve fried the vegetables, you probably don’t want the extra knob of butter from the basic recipe.
    Mushrooms will stand up to longer cooking, so you can add them to the onions before the rice goes in. Dried porcini mushrooms ( see here ), in addition to or instead of fresh ones, contribute an intense fungal flavour: soak them in warm water for half an hour, then add them to the pot at an early stage too, along with the flavoured liquid in which