Traditional Paella Valenciana Recipe

Paella Valenciana

Everyone knows what a paella tastes like, delicious right?! I wanted to share my famous recipe with you all, so you could cook it yourself at home.

The only thing it is really important, is to use the right type of rice, we call it "bomb rice" or "rounded rice", it is similar to the risotto rice, but not exactly the same. 

These are the ingredients for a traditional Paella Valenciana for four people:

700gr Chicken (it can be drumsticks, breast, wings..)

300gr Rabbit (if you don’t like, you can also use pork)

1 tsp of Sweet Paprika powder

1 tsp of Colouring powder

6-8 Natural grated tomatoes

400gr Green beans

100gr Peas

2 Red peppers

Water

Olive oil

Bomb Rice 

Preparation:

Before you can start cooking, you will need to gather all equipment and start preparing the ingredients. So first of all we wash and cut all the vegetables that we are going to use for our Paella.

We put olive oil on the pan, fry a bit the chicken, and the rabbit or other meat that we would like to add,  it is not necessary to cook it totally, since it is going to be cooked together with all ingredients; we put the meat apart, and fry the grated tomatoes on the same pan with the same oil as the meat, we add salt and if you like, personally I don’t, it is the moment of adding crunched garlic, and also the sweet paprika powder.

If we are using a “paellera”, traditional pan to make paellas, we reserve all ingredients there, so up to know we have the chicken (and other meats that might be used) and the grated tomatoes; so we can start to fry the rest of the vegetables, add the peas, green beans and red paprika, we can do that on a separate pan or already on the “paellera”.

Now we have all the ingredients together, so we can add the bomb rice, it is very important to control the amount of rice you are adding to the paella, we normally use a small coffee cup, or a shot glass per person; so you will add as much “glasses” as people is the paella for.

In this case, for example, we want a paella for four people, then we will add 4 glasses of rice, also make clear that per each glass of rice you need to add 3 of liquid; I do one glass of white wine and two of water, instead of that, you can also mix the water with a “tablet of broth” to give some extra flavour. The most important is that per every glass of rice you will add three of the same glass of liquid.

You can stir to mix it all properly, it is also the moment to add some salt and the colouring powder, and leave it to cook on a strong heating for about 5 minutes, and then it needs to cook on a low heating, it will depend on the rice, but normally it takes another 20-30 minutes, it is important that you see the rice cooked, you can try to see if it still hard, if that’s the case and you see it is dry, you can always add more water, or wine to the paella, to make the grains softer, nobody likes to find hard grains!

Tips for Beginners

Paella is more of an art than a science, so it may take a little practice to be able to make it quickly. These tips may help:

• The amount of liquid to add to the rice varies depending on the rice variety and the other ingredients you have added to the paella. When the cooking is half way done, feel free to add a little more liquid to the pan if the rice seems too dry.
• If the rice doesn't seem to be cooking properly around the edges because the burner/stove you are using is just a little too small, you may partially cover the edges of the pan to help retain heat and ensure cooking.

If you like to get any of the ingredients, or even an original “paellera”, please let me know and I can get them for you from Spain; you only need to reach me at my email address foodie.gek@outlook.com and I can send you some information as well. 

Our Paella Valenciana is in the book!

ThuisGekookt Book is in!!

It is already a year ago when I started "selling"my food through the website thuisafgehaald. I still remember when a good friend of mine introduced me to their system of sharing your    leftover meal of the same evening with your neighbour for a small price in exchange. 




A few months ago, they started collecting recipes from homecooks, a selection of the best ones would be written on their first book. And guess what? I was selected to be in this gorgeous   project! 





It took me a while to decide which one I was going to publish  but I was tired of finding the wrong Paella recipe everywhere, I am sure it happens with a lot of traditional foods from all  over the world eaten in other cultures, so I propose them to   write the original Paella Valenciana.



Even if it is not my own book, it's a super exciting experience and glad I participated with them. The book is written in     Dutch, which was quite challenging at the time of making the   interview, and probably for them to translate the whole recipe from my English. If you like to have a copy, you will not only find my Paella Recipe but much more other great ones from thuisafgehaald cooks, just get in touch with me at                  foodie.gek@outlook.com.

Beautiful Folding on your Table

I found this beautiful folding on Internet, long time ago, and since then, I never miss the opportunity to surprise my guest! 

I wanted to show you how to do it, really useful to put something different on your table display for birthday parties, or special occasions. 

Do not be scared, it is really easy to do! 

                    Put the napkin out on a table. It might have some wrinkles, but that is ok. 

Fold the napkin in half:                                 And another half:

This is the best part, pay attention because it is not so difficult as it may look :

                                   

           Arrange the napkin so the main fold is at the bottom and the loose leaves are at the upper right side. Roll back the top layer diagonally from the upper right toward the lower left, and stop as the roll reaches the upper left and lower right corners of the napkin. Continue folding the next layer under the roll, and so on with the third layer..

Fold the right side back and under.

You can also fold about a quarter of the left side back, so your napkin is smaller. I prefered not to do it, so there is space enough to place in each layer one piece of the cutlery. 
It is also a good idea to use the iron to fix our work. 

Here is our beautiful result : 

I hope you and your guest will like so much as me this napkin folding! 

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Sunday? Time for Churros!

Churros zijn ontzettend lekker, we eten ze altijd op Zondag ochtend samen met de hele gezind. 

Vinden jullie Churros ook heerlijk, hier wil ik met jullie de recept delen: 

 400 ml water
 165 gr boter
 ½ theelepel zout
 230 gr bloem
 5 eieren
 35 gr suiker
 ¼ theelepel kaneel (optioneel) 
 Olijfolie

Wat jullie moeten doen, is heel makkelijk. 

1. Doe het water in een pannetje samen met de boter en het zout. Breng dit aan de kook en zorg ervoor dat de boter smelt. Doe nu in één keer de bloem erbij en blijf roeren totdat het deeg los komt van het pannetje en een bal wordt. Laat het nu nog ongeveer een minuut koken tot het deeg gaar is. Ondertussen wel roeren!

2. Doe het vuur uit en doe nu één voor één de eieren erbij. Doe pas het volgende ei erbij als het vorige ei goed is gemengd met het deeg! Goed roeren dus.

3. Verhit de frituurpan tot 180 graden Celsius.

4. Schep het deeg in een spuitzak. Je kan nu kiezen op welke manier je gaat werken. De beste manier om mooie churros te krijgen is de volgende: leg een vel bakpapier klaar en spuit daarop lussen van het deeg. Schep dit in de frituurolie. Als je voor minder mooie churros gaat, kan je het deeg ook rechtstreeks in de frituurpan spuiten. Voor de smaak maakt het niet uit!

5. Draai de churros na 3 à 4 minuten om en bak ze in totaal ongeveer 7 minuten.

6. Met de suiker met de kaneel.

7. Haal de churros uit de pan en leg ze op een paar vellen keukenpapier, zodat het meeste vet er uit lekt. Strooi de suiker met kaneel over de churros en serveer ze.

Happy & Delicious Sunday!

 Churros zijn makkelijk om te koken, als je wilt meer weten of een workshop doen, jullie kunnen contact opnemen met: contact@spanishcookingbymaria.com