There are many types of paella. Here I show the recipe that I learned from my mother. It is delicious and not difficult. Originally, the paella comes from Valencia. There the paella is made of meat or fish. This paella recipe is mixed, meat and fish, my mother is from Madrid. The great secret of the paella is the rice you use. The rice needs a lot of moisture and then it absorbs all the flavors. The rice should surely cook 20 minutes. The mother of a friend of mine, is from Valencia, she takes Valencian water to Madrid if she is going to make paella there. She says the paella is much tastier. For me paella means party, Sunday, Spain. It’s my favorite dish.

Ingredients

– 1 tomato
– 2 red peppers
– 2 onion
– 4-6 cloves of garlic
– Chicken (for 4 persons)
– Oil
– Salt
– Laurel (4 leaves)
– 1 can of tuna
– 50-70 grams of rice per person (or per person 1 cup
– Fish broth
– Saffron
– Mussels (500-750 grams, preferably large mussels
– Bag of shellfish 300-500 grams
– Prawns
– One giant pot of beans
– 1 lemon

Realization

1.
A) Cut the onion, garlic, tomato and peppers into small pieces. Some peppers into long strips, to finally decorate the paella.
Fry with olive oil.
B) Bake the chicken
C) Create a pan fish broth (± 2 liters), add the cooked vegetables, chicken, 4 leaves of laurel and the tuna in the paella pan, add the fish broth and cook it.

2. When water starts to boil, add the rice, 50-70 grams per person, and saffron.

3. After 5 minutes of cooking, add the mussels and shellfish. (Clean them well in advance).

4. Add after 10 minutes of boiling the prawns.

5. After 15 minutes of cooking add the giant beans and pepper strips.

Totally you need about 20 minutes to cook the paella and the rice. If you see that the moisture begins to fall, you can turn off the heat, then leave for 5 minutes, and put then the pieces of lemon on top.

Advice

– Type of rice is essential. This needs to absorb a lot of water. Use Spanish rice or risotto rice.
– Fish broth you can buy or make it, for example by boiling the peel prawns with plenty of water.
– If the paella gets too early dry then add hot water or broth if it is still there, you can always have a fish broth cube mixed with hot water.
– Perfect Paella
The paella is perfect when the rice is cooked while the moisture is almost away.

Enjoy your meal!

 

Photos and illustrations: Ángeles Nieto