Summer is all about dishes like Valencian paella. The discussions about the ingredients that go into this Valencian paella recipe are multiple, so there are hundreds of varieties of this dish. Today we have tried to be as loyal as possible to the traditional Valencian paella recipe. Shall we start?
Ingredients:
- 700 g thick grain rice (called “Arroz D.O. de Valencia”)
- 1 kg chicken
- 500 g rabbit
- 250 g flat green beans
- 250 g lima beans
- 500 g natural crushed tomatoes
- 50 ml extra virgin olive oil
- Saffron
- 1/2 spoonful of paprika (optional)
- Water
- Salt
How to Make the Classic Paella Recipe:
- First, prepare the ingredients. For the chicken and the rabbit you can ask your butcher to cut it as if you were going to prepare a stew. Remove the seeds from the green beans and cut them up in pieces of about 3 cm.
- In a paella pan, at low heat, add the oil. Once hot, add the meat and season it.
- Once the meat is brown, add the green beans and lima beans. Stir-fry it.
- Add the saffron and paprika, but be careful not to burn it. For this add, after stirring everything a little, the tomato. Let everything fry well.
- Then add about 3 glasses of room-temperature water per 1 glass of rice. Let it cook for 30 minutes at a medium-high heat (you may want to try it and add salt or other ingredients according to preference).
- After this time (the water will more or less be under the handle rivets), add the rice uniformly throughout the paella. Let it cook for 15-20 mins. The rice should soak up the water, and be loose and dry. Although not recommended, if the water evaporates but the rice is still hard, you can add a little more water. At this point, do not mix the rice, as it will look more like a risotto.
- Now, turn the heat off and let it cool for 5 mins with a cloth over the pan…. And it is time to eat your classic Spanish paella like a true Spaniard!