During Christmas eve dinner, it is a yearly tradition that a Paella will be served and year after year this dish surely fills-up my plate more than anything. Paella is easily one of the reasons why I always look forward to Christmas. In this time I get to indulge myself with plate after plate of Paella.
Once in a while I crave for a plate of Paella, and a Spanish-Filipino themed restaurant is the answer for my cravings. Since ordering Paella at a restaurant is costly, at times I think to myself if I can cook my very own version of Paella. Thinking that it is too tedious and I would need to have a skillet to cook this made me opt not to. Through flipping the pages of cookbooks, I’ve discovered that one doesn’t need a skillet to cook Paella and there are simplified recipes available. The very first time I cooked Paella it was too oily. The second time, it was too salty, Now, three times the charm, I finally got it right. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Easy Paella
Recipe
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon of annatto powder
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
1 cup of chopped onions
1 small red bell pepper, sliced
1 small green bell pepper, sliced
1 can of chorizo Bilbao, sliced
1 cup of cubed chicken breast
1/4 teaspoon of Spanish Paprika
2 pieces of chicken bouillon cubes
2 cups of cooked rice
Procedure
1. In a large sauce pan, heat oil then add annatto powder and garlic.
2. Add the onions and red & green bell pepper, cook for 2 minutes or until fragrant.
3. Put the chorizo Bilbao, cubed chicken, spanish paprika, chicken bouillon and cook for 10 minutes.
4. Add in the cooked rice and make sure to mix well. Add salt and pepper if deemed necessary then you’re good to go.
Serves 4 persons 🙂
Notes on this recipe
1. If you’ll noticed there are only a few meats and seafood in my Paella, that is because the people here at home are allergic to seafood. You are free to add fish, shrimps, squid, crab, mussels and even a hard-boiled egg if you want to.
2. There are a number of varieties of Paella:
a. Paella Valenciana (only one type of meat, either beef or chicken)
b. Seafood Paella (a mix of fish, shrimps, squid, crab and/or lobster)
c. Mixed Paella (a mix of beef, chicken, seafood and vegetables)
d. Paella Negra (has the same ingredients with seafood paella but uses the ink of the squid to coat the rice)
3. Essentially, a good Paella will have a layered of toasted rice at the bottom of the pan. This is because the toasted rice adds more flavor to Paella. One can achieve this by cooking it in a skillet, but there is no need to buy if you don’t have one for you can use your large sauce pan though you will not achieve the toasted rice with this.
4. I’m sure there are a number of varieties of Chorizo Bilbao out there, but I just prefer to use the canned version. You can also use Chinese Chorizo, by the way.
How much did everything cost?
Purefoods Chorizo Bilbao ———- Php 121.50
McCormick Spanish Paprika ——— Php 59.50
McCormick Minced Garlic ———– Php 83.50
Mamasita Annatto Powder ———– Php 17.00
Red & Green Bell Pepper ———– Php 36.40
Bounty Fresh Chicken Brest Fillet – Php 100.00 (max. Php 200)
The home-schooled chef 