Best traditional Paella recipe

Best traditional Paella recipe

The traditional Paella recipe is one of the most famous dishes in Spain. However, today you can find it in many exotic restaurants even here in South Africa. This is a special meal because Paella rice is not the ordinary rice that you would find on the shelves. The grain is specially bred to produce low starch rice with high absorption properties. Spain grows the best Paella rice and it has some of the best chefs too. Therefore, if that country is your next holiday destination, you know which dish to sample immediately after you land there.

shrimp paella recipe
Image: pixabay.com, Jaho
Source: UGC

Paella is one of the most relished Spanish dishes that is made using rice as the main ingredient. It also ranks as one of the most popular items on the list of Spanish cuisine, giving it the perception as Spain's national or staple dish. However, when you talk to the native Spaniards, they will be quick to place the origins of the dish in the Valencia region. The dish borrows its name from the wide but shallow pan that is used for cooking it on open fire. Back then, it was the favourite food for Valencian farmworkers who cooked rice with different ingredients over makeshift wood fires.

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How to make paella

authentic spanish seafood paella recipe
Image: pixabay.com, EstudioWebDoce
Source: UGC

Perhaps you have relished this meal and have all along been wondering how do you make paella from scratch? Well, here is the idea:

Seafood Paella recipe

Preparation: 10 min

The dish ( also called paella recipe easy or easy paella recipe) is arguably the most delicious among paella seafood dishes.

Cook time: 30 min

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • One tablespoon of olive oil
  • One chopped onion
  • One teaspoon of hot smoked paprika
  • One teaspoon of dried thyme
  • 300 grams of paella of risotto rice
  • Three tablespoons of dry sherry or white wine
  • 400 grams can of chopped tomatoes with garlic
  • 900ml of Chicken stock
  • A 400-gram bag of frozen seafood mix
  • Extract juice from one half of the lemon and the cut the remaining half into wedges
  • Roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley (handful)

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How do you make a Paella from scratch?

Here is how it is done:

  1. Start by heating one tablespoon of olive oil in a wide frying pan
How do you make paella without a paella pan?
Image: Image: youtube.com, giphy.com (modified by author)
Source: UGC

2. Add the chopped onion and allow it to soften for five minutes

3. Add in and stir one teaspoon of dried thyme, one teaspoon of hot smoked paprika, and 300 grams of paella rice.

4. Stir it for about one minute and then splash three tablespoons of sherry (white wine).

5. Give it time to evaporate and then stir in the 400-gram can of chopped tomatoes. You can also mix in the garlic and the 900 millilitres of the chicken stock.

6. Season and then cook it uncovered for approximately fifteen minutes. Stir at reasonable intervals until the rice is almost tender. Do not evaporate all the liquid.

7. Add the 400g of the frozen seafood in the mix and stir. After that, cover the pan and simmer for five minutes.

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8. Take your half lemon and squeeze the juice over it. Scatter some flat-leaf parsley and then serve with lemon wedges.

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How do you make Jamie Oliver Paella?

Ingredients

  • Two cloves of garlic
  • One onion
  • One carrot
  • 15 grams of fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 70 grams of chorizo
  • Two chicken thighs extracted from a free-range chicken (They must be boneless and skinless.)
  • Olive oil
  • One tsp of sweet smoked paprika
  • One red pepper
  • One tbsp of tomato puree
  • One chicken stock cube (organic)
  • 300 grams of paella rice
  • 300 grams of frozen peas
  • 200 grams of cooked prawns (must have been frozen and peeled)
  • One lemon

How it is done

  1. Peel the garlic and chop it to fine slices. Also, chop the parsley stocks finely. Next, cut the onions, carrots, the chicken thighs, and chorizo.
  2. Put frying oil on your large paella pan on medium heat and then add the onion, garlic, carrot, parsley stalks, paprika, and chorizo. Fry for about five minutes, stirring it at reasonable intervals.
  3. Add deseeded and chopped pepper and allow it to fry for another five minutes.
  4. Add and stir the tomato puree and the crush in the stock cube. Pour in the rice and mix for some minutes so that it takes in the flavour.
  5. Pour in about 750 millilitres of water and then add some black pepper and sea salt.
  6. Pop up the lid and then let it boil. After that, allow simmering for fifteen minutes. Stir now and then as you splash in some water when necessary.
  7. Add the prawns and peas. Remove the lid and cook for five more minutes until it is hot through.
  8. Season well and then garnish with chopped parsley leaves. Serve with lemon wedges.

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What is the best rice for paella?

seafood paella jamie oliver
Image: pixabay.com, Jack Mac
Source: UGC

The length of individual grains can distinguish rice from the paella eating communities. The long-grained type measures about seven millimetres long while the medium and short grains measure roughly six millimetres and five millimetres, respectively.

The round rice or Arroz Redonda works well for paella, and the varieties available are Thaibonnet, Bahfa, Bomba, and Bomba Senia. However, most people prefer Bomba rice because of its higher quality and absorbent properties. This type maintains its shape even after cooking since it expands lengthwise. It is an excellent ingredient for Spanish paella recipe and seafood paella recipe South Africa.

Now that you know how to prepare at least two dishes, you can try out your skills to see how you will cook the famous Paella recipe. But, maybe you are still wondering, what are the main ingredients in a paella? Well, although the list is long, the most common ingredients are white rice, rabbit, chicken, snails, duck, garlic, sweet paprika, tomatoes, runner beans, butter beans, fresh rosemary, artichoke, great northern beans, and saffron.

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Source: Briefly News

Authors:
Peris Walubengo avatar

Peris Walubengo (Lifestyle writer) Peris Walubengo is a content creator with 5 years of experience writing articles, researching, editing, and proofreading. She has a Bachelor of Commerce & IT from the University of Nairobi and joined Briefly.co.za in November 2019. The writer completed a Google News Initiate Course. She covers bios, marketing & finance, tech, fashion & beauty, recipes, movies & gaming reviews, culture & travel. You can email her at perisrodah254@gmail.com.