For Swedish chef Niklas Ekstedt, co-author of the new Happy Food For Life, healthy, gut-friendly food needs to still be satisfying.

This buckwheat risotto is flavoursome, nutritious and makes for a hearty meal too.

Buckwheat risotto recipe with fennel and pea sprout salad

Ingredients:

2 shallots300g crushed buckwheat3tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil600ml chicken stock150g Västerbottensost cheese (or aged Cheddar cheese)4tbsp crème fraîche1tbsp fennel seeds1 bulb of fennel3–5 cooked beetrootPea sprouts or green leaves or herbs, such as basil or Oregano, to serve

Method:

1. Peel and chop the shallots.

2. Sauté the shallots and buckwheat in the rapeseed oil for four to five minutes in a wide, thick-bottomed saucepan.

3. Stir and add the chicken stock, a little at a time. Allow the liquid to reduce and add more stock while stirring until there’s still a little bite in the buckwheat.

4. Grate half of the cheese into the pan and add the crème fraîche.

5. Toast the fennel seeds in a pan over a medium heat.

6. Thinly slice the fennel – this is easiest on a mandoline.

7. Cut the cooked beetroot into wedges.

8. Top the buckwheat risotto with toasted fennel seeds, sliced fresh fennel and beetroot. Shave the rest of the cheese over.

9. Add a few pea sprouts, green leaves or herbs.

Happy Food For Life by Niklas Ekstedt and Henrik Ennart, photography by David Loftus, is published by Bloomsbury Publishing, priced £22. Available now (bloomsbury.com).