Paella

I’m not sure if it’s a traditional Paella recipe, but…..

Photo by Author

As I entered the busy season for Auditor, I didn’t post anything in the last 2 weeks — stressful weeks for me. I lost my appetite and didn’t want to cook anything. All I did on my weekends was eating ice cream and watching Netflix, ordered pizza, and read some books.

This week, I encourage myself to cook something because I haven’t posted anything on my Instagram Story these 2 weeks. You know, I’m the type of person who loves to post something on my Instagram Story, and also I love it when people give me the attention.

I usually cook (not so but looks like) fancy food on the weekend. I cook dishes from different countries every week. 2 weeks ago, I cooked Greek food. But I’ll post the recipe next week. I promise. Today I’m going to share with you my super easy recipe to make Paella.

Actually, Paella is SUPER EASY to make. I’m not joking! It may look so fancy and difficult to make. But trust me, it’s not difficult to make Paella.

You need:

• 200gr chicken breast.
• 150gr shrimps, deveined. (you can peel it, but I only peel their head and you can use it to make broth)
• 1 pinch of saffron.
• Parsley
• 2 garlic cloves, minced.
• Water. (I honestly don’t have the best measure for this, sometimes I only need 1 cup, sometimes I need more than 2 cups. Hehehe)
• 1 cup of arborio rice (but I use pearled barley since I don’t have arborio rice. And if you use pearled barley, make sure you soaked them for 1 hour before you cook them)
• Half of an onion, chopped.
• Olive oil
• Canned tomato puree. (I only use 3tbsp)
• Lemon
• Salt & pepper
• You can add paprika. But since I’m not too fond of paprika, I didn’t use it. Hehehe
• Chicken feet of chicken bone for the broth.

How to make it:

For the broth:

• Heat the pan and add olive oil. Don’t add much olive oil.
• Stir fry the shrimp heads and the chicken feet or chicken bone until the shrimp heads turn red.
• Add 750ml water; let them boiled.
• Add a pinch of saffron to the broth.

For Paella:

• Heat the pan to medium-high heat (oh, and put the olive oil, please)
• Add garlic and onion, saute for 1 minute.
• Add chicken, saute for 1 minute.
• Add rice (or pearled barley), saute for 2 minutes.
• Add the tomato puree (or diced tomato, it’s up to you)
• Add the broth, but add it gradually. I add 250ml first, and then I add it later on if I think the rice is still uncooked.
• After that, let them boil. Please don’t forget to stir it.
• Add salt and pepper for taste.
• If you think your Paella is almost ready, put the shrimp on it. Then cover the pan for 3–4 minutes.
• Zest the lemon on top of your Paella and add some fresh parsley on it.
• Your Paella is ready to eat!

PS: Let them burnt a bit. Trust me, the best taste of Paella is when your Paella is slightly charred.