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.