Hello guys! ☀ Today, I want to share my favorite vegan rice recipe, my version of a traditional Spanish paella. It serves about 3 to 4 people, depending on how hungry you are.
Growing up in Spain, I have lots of memories of my grandmother cooking paella. The whole family would sit in the garden and share the huge pan of paella she had cooked, and it always was delicious. I used to only eat the vegetables, since I have been a vegetarian from childhood on and traditional paella contains a lot of fish and seafood.
Recently, my grandma shared her recipe with me and I came up with my own vegan version of this delicious traditional Spanish dish. It's really easy to cook and I always like to vary the types of vegetables I put in it, depending on what's in my fridge.
Traditionally, a paella is made with lots of seafood and fish or, depending on where in Spain you are, with chicken, rabbit meat or just plain vegetable. Usually, what gives it the typical paella taste is the fish or meat stock. So, for a vegetable paella, it's very important to use a high-quality vegetable broth to add some taste to the dish.
Also, I would not use any other than paella rice, which is the same as risotto rice. This provides the unique flavor and texture of a traditional paella.
When it comes to the saffron, it's up to you how much to use. Saffron can be very expensive depending on where you live, and if you are not too much into the taste of saffron, you could replace some of it with turmeric for the yellow color. I personally love how saffron tastes; I normally use about 1 gram of it at least.
The most important thing though, is to not stir the dish at all after adding the broth! Just let it cook until the rice is cooked and the water boiled away. This is how you get the delicious rice "crust", which is the very best part of a paella. If the water boiled away but the rice is not yet cooked, add some more vegetable broth and let it cook until the rice is done.
So here is my version of a vegetable paella. I hope you like it!
Like I said before, you can vary the vegetables as you like. Just be aware of the cooking time and when to add it ... This is what I like to use the most for a tasty paella:
First, you heat a frying pan to medium heat and fry the onions, garlic and green pepper in olive oil. Then, add the rubbed tomatoes and some salt and let it cook for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Set the tomato sauce aside and heat the pan to medium heat. Fry the paella rice in olive oil for 1 to 2 minutes. Be careful not to burn the rice. Then add the vegetables and stir. Add the bayleaf, saffron and vegetable broth, stir one more time.
From now on, do not stir the paella! Let it cook for 25 to 30 minutes. When the water has boiled away and the rice is cooked, remove the bayleaf. Serve the paella with a lemon and enjoy!
