Paella a beautiful traditional Spanish dish made mainly from rice. The dish is not that much different from risotto besides the region they are from (Paella- Spain, Risotto-Italy). There are many types of paella out there and different varieties of rice (Arborio, Carnaroli, Bahai, Bomba..etc) may be used in the dish but adding saffron is a must to obtain the yellowish / turmeric like colour that paella is known for.
Cooking paella is slightly dissimilar to risotto and to get the right texture and flavour for the dish the rice is roasted in olive oil with onion or tomato before adding the broth/water. While cooking you won’t need to stir it as often as when making risotto which is to prevent the rice from breaking down to much and becoming sticky like risotto.
Note: to obtain the right texture for the dish it is important to keep in mind that it doesn’t need to be stirred too often and keep an eye on the level of stickiness.
To obtain the right toasty flavour, the rice needs to be toasted in olive oil with onion or tomato before having any liquid added.
CHORIZO PAELLA
Prep-Time: 10 mins Serve: 5
Cooking Time: 45 mins
Ingredients
3 chorizo, sliced
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cup Arborio rice
1/4 tsp Saffron powder
3/4 cup peas
3 1/2 cups water/ stock
1/2 red capsicum, chopped
1/2 cup chopped parsley
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
Heat the oil in a deep pan over medium high heat, add in the onion and cook until it turns white and is cooked through. Add in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Then add in the rice, roast the rice in oil for 3 minutes and then add in the chorizo and saffron and cook until the fat starts to run.
Add in 1/3 of the water/stock and allow it to boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium and leave it to simmer for 5 minutes or until the liquid reduces. Add in the capsicum and consequently add in the rest of the water and cook until the rice has softened. Add in more water as necessary.
Add in the peas and cook for further 3 minutes. Sprinkle the parsley on top and then stir to mix and ready to serve.
