If you have ever been to Spain you have probably tasted paella at least once or twice.
It looks pretty complicated and have a lot of ingredients so this might discourage some people from making it at home. We certainly were a little intimidated by the beautiful pictures of different paellas and we might have thought, we can’t possibly make that at home and make it look anything like what we have been served.
But you know what, it is possible and as long as we prepare everything according to the recipe and follow the instructions step by step, it simply can’t go wrong.
Ingredients for the marinade
2 fresh red chillies, seeds removed
1 large handful of cilantro
3 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
2 cloves of garlic
6 tablespoons oil
Juice of 1 lemon
Dash of salt
We will start by making the marinade, so simply mix all the ingredients together in a food processor till completely combined. Set aside in a large bowl.
See that was pretty easy 🙂
Ingredients
150 g (5 oz) baby squid or squid rings
275 g (10 oz) cod fillets (or other white fish), cut into bite size pieces
12 large prawns with tail
8 large scallops, cut in half
350 g (12 oz) mussels, scrubbed and bearded
250 g (1 cup) rice
1 bunch of spring onions
1 large zucchini
1 red bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
250 g (1 cup) crushed tomatoes
4 dl (1 2/3 cup) chicken stock or water
2 tablespoons oil
Salt
Pepper
Prepare all the seafood first.
Except for the mussels, place all the other seafoods into the bowl with marinade and let it sit for 1-2 hours covered in a cool place.
Make sure to scrub the mussels thoroughly and remove the beard. Set aside.
Cook the rice till it is almost done (15 minutes left). Either cook it in a pot or rice cooker.
Chop the spring onions, peppers and zucchini into bite size pieces.
Prepare the stock if you are making it from a bouillon cube.
Heat the oil in a large pan with a lid that will fit all your ingredients.
Fry all the veggies for a few minutes till softened. Remove from pan.
Add the almost cooked rice to the pan and stir. Pour some of the marinade from the fish over the rice and stir till combined.
Add the crushed tomatoes and chicken stock (or water), stir again.
Mix in the veggies and press the top a little flat.
Now place the fish, squid, scallops, shrimp and mussels nicely on top of the rice mixture and pour over the remaining marinade.
Turn the heat to medium or medium low and cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for about 10-15 minutes.
Do not stir as this will ruin the nice look of the dish.
Test to see if the seafood have been cooked enough and give it a few more minutes if some of it is still raw or undercooked.
Remove any mussels that have not opened during cooking, they are not safe to eat.
Serve the whole pan on the table and let people serve themselves with a large spoon.
-Enjoy!