• Slice half of the mushrooms and grate the other half of the mushrooms on the coarse side of a box grater.
  600 g chestnut mushrooms

Cook the sliced mushrooms:

• Add the 300g sliced mushrooms to a wide, deep frying pan or skillet with a pinch of salt. Cook over a medium heat, sitrring occasionally, until they've released all their liquid and are starting to brown. Add 1 tbsp oil and keep cooking until they've caramelised. Remove from the pan to a plate and set aside.
  2 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil, salt

Make the risotto:

• Return the empty pan to the medium heat and add the remaining 1 tbsp oil. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and starting to turn golden, 7-10 minutes.
  1 onion
• Add the risotto rice and stir for a couple of minutes to toast the rice.
  250 g risotto rice
• Stir in the red lentils (if using) and the 300g grated mushrooms.
  50 g dry red lentils
• Combine the stock, wine (if using), soy sauce and thyme. Pour a ladleful (around 150ml) of this into the frying pan, stirring slowly but continuously, until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue in this manner until all liquid has been added. It should take around 15-20 minutes to reach this point.
  1 litre hot vegetable stock (from a stock cube or homemade), 125 ml white wine, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tbsp thyme leaves

Check the risotto for doneness & seasoning:

• Taste some of the rice, it should be holding its shape with some slight resistance when you bite into it but shouldn't be crunchy or chalky. If it is crunchy/chalky, continue to cook the rice, sitrring in water as needed if it seems too thick/dry. You want the risotto to be liquidy enough where it settles into a flat puddle and the rice grains are surrounded by a visible, creamy liquid. Check for seasoning (salt/black pepper) at this point and season as needed.
  Black pepper, salt
• Once the risotto is ready, serve it immediately by dividing between bowls and topping with the sliced mushrooms you cooked earlier.