Achalamasi's Vegetarian Paella
Servings: 4 people
This Vibrant looking dish can also be made by adding seafood and/or meat. Our good friend Manolo always makes it on hot summer days on the shores of Lake Zurich. Perfect end to swimming in the lake.
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Equipment
- Heavy based wide paella pan, usually round and shallow. See instructions.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil Spanish
- 2 medium onions diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 green chillies finely chopped
- 1 inch ginger grated
- 200 g short grain paella rice (not Basmati) Such as Arroz Redonda, Bomba, Senia, Thaibonnet.
- ½ tsp saffron strands infused in half liter of cold water
- 2 tsp salt to taste
- 1 tsp black pepper ground
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
Vegetables for the first stage
- 2 medium carrots diced
- 100 g french beans topped and tailed and cut into 5 cm pieces
- ½ red pepper diced
- ½ yellow pepper diced
Stock
- 1½ litre hot vegetable stock Made with I vegetable stock cube
- extra hot water If required, add the extra water in stages.
Ingredients to add towards the end
- 2 medium ripe tomatoes diced
- 4 chestnut mushrooms diced
- 10 preserved artichokes from bottle sliced
- Juice of half a lemon
For garnish
- 3 wedges lemon
- 3 tbsp green coriander finely chopped
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in the paella pan or any other heavy and wide bottom pan
- Fry onions, garlic, ginger and green chilies, in that order. Fry until onions become translucent.
- Add rice and fry for a few minutes more.
- Add the saffron water
- Add the other seasonings: salt, black pepper and turmeric. Fry for a few minutes more.
- Add the carrots, peppers, and green beans and fry a further few minutes. Stirring all the time. To keep the vegetables crunchy, try not to overcook them at this stage. They will cook further with the rice later on.
- Add the hot stock in batches (of about half a liter each) and keep stirring. Keep the heat to a medium setting.
- Depending on the rice and the amount of other ingredients, you might not use all the stock.
- Keep cooking for another 15 to 20 minutes until the rice is cooked. If the rice is not fully cooked even after using all the prepared stock, then add the extra hot water. Always adding a little at a time and stirring after.
- Sprinkle the lemon juice over the paella. Add the fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, artichokes and coriander just before serving
- Cover the whole dish with tea towel and let it rest for 10 minutes before serving. The rice should be cooked but with a soft bite to it.
Notes
The finished dish should be served with generous wedges of lemon and big dollops of garlic butter.
Above is a vegetarian variety, but you can add meat like strips of chicken and any other seafood ingredient. Remember to partially cook items like chicken and wedges of fish before starting the whole cooking process. To avoid overcooking, add prawns, mussels, clams, shrimps etc at the final stages of cooking.