First of all I apologize you for my English level because it’s pretty basic, but I hope you value the effort I’m going to make to explain how a traditional Valencian paella is cooked. So please be patient with my expressions and any questions that I may cause you, do not be afraid to ask me anything. I will help you with all my heart.
La verdad que hay muchísima gente apasionada de la paella y no sólo en España, y espero que lo que voy a escribir les ayude a poder disfrutar de este delicioso plato típico nuestro. Por estos motivos no me he podido negar a hacerlo, aunque me va a costar un poquito porque mi inglés es bastante básico. Con que solamente una persona que no hable español, desde cualquier parte del mundo, sea capaz de cocinar una paella original valenciana y al probarla se le erice la piel como a mí, todo el esfuerzo hecho habrá merecido la pena.
Valencian paella ingredients
- 1/2 chicken, chopped and skinless (very important)
- 1/2 rabbit to pieces also
- 1 chicken liver, cut into large pieces
- 250 gr. minced meat to prepare balls (a personal touch)
- 100 gr. of round rice (very important) per person and 100 gr. more (ex. 700 gr. for 6 people)
- 300 gr. of flat green jew
- 300 gr. of large flat bean
- 2 cloves of chopped dried garlic
- 1 red pepper cut into strips
- 2 grated pear tomatoes
- 1/2 envelope of food coloring and sweet paprika
- 1 branch of rosemary
- 300 ml. of extra virgin olive oil
- Chopped or ground saffron, water and salt
Well, let me tell you that you are in luck because you are in the right place. Here I am going to explain you, with every little detail, the original one.
I am going to show you how to make the authentic spanish paella, or what is really called, valencian paella (it is a paella recipe easy). I am talking you about that paella rice that a valencian like me eats every week, cooked by my mother-in-law, for example.
You can also try to make a spanish artichoke paella, it’s an original recipe and we like it a lot. I hope you will enjoy it.
Before starting to make paella
The vegetables should be fresh, never use frozen vegetables to make a paella. You must buy the vegetables in your neighborhood store and you must prepare them.
The rice should be round, you should never make with «bomba» rice a paella. I cook with the round rice from La Fallera and this rice is the one that absorbs the most flavor, because simply this rice is the best.
When you are making the paella, you must put all the ingredients with your hands or with a spoon. You should not pour the dish where each ingredient is on the paella, because if you do that, you will add more water than you need. Look how my mother-in-law does in the video.
The paella pan must be level so that the oil remains centered. A piece of folded paper or cardboard can help you if you put it under one of the legs.
The paella pan has to be 65 cm. diameter. This size is ideal for 6 or 7 people. The different sizes that exist of paella pans and the people that can eat in each one of them you can check in paella pan & paella burner post.
The paella pan material should be enameled, I would never cook with a steel paella, for various reasons that I explain extensively in the post paella pan & paella burner.
The paella burner must be as big as the paella pan. If the paella burner is bigger than the paella, you don’t have any problem. You should know that this data is very important to you can to control the fire as I explain in that post paella pan & paella burner.
How to make traditional valencian paella for 6 or 7 people?
1 Level the paella pan, light only the smallest firebox and put the fire strong, then pour the oil.
2 When the oil is hot, lower the heat to a minimum, put the balls of meat, fry until they are very well done and then take them out of the paella and set aside.
3 Raise over medium heat, put the meat and liver, and fry until golden brown on both sides. Add plenty of salt when you put the meat and when you turn the meat over.
Remove the liver first because it is going to be cooked before and set aside.
4 Once the meat is good enough to eat it, set the meat on the sides of the paella pan so it does not continue to be fried.
5 Put the red pepper with a little salt and fry also on both sides. Add the flat green jews and the large flat beans and cook them all together.
When the red pepper is well done on both sides set aside, because it is going to cook before than the other vegatables.
6 At the moment you see that the vegetables are already done, make a hole in the middle and put the garlic, cut into pieces. Remove quickly so that the garlic does not burn and then mix with the vegetables and meat.
7 Without wasting time, add the grated tomato and cook everything together and quickly because the garlic cooks very fast.
8 Then make another hole in the center and put 2 spoons dessert of sweet paprika. Quickly mix everything together and at 10 seconds, at the most, pour water into the paella.
9 Fill with water until the water lacks about two fingers to reach the top. Surely the water will have covered the rivets of the handles of the paella.
Turn on the second fire and rise to a high heat until the water starts to boil, then lower the heat a little. Write when the water starts to boil because the water has to boil for 20 minutes.
10 After 10 minutes, place the rosemary branch on the water, leave it for 2 minutes and remove it from the paella. Take advantage to put the ground saffron and 1/2 envelope of food coloring, stir everything together and distribute it by the paella.
11 At 15 minutes after the water starts to boil, try salt and add more salt if necessary. Repeat this operation every 2 minutes until reaching the indicated 20 minutes.
12 The water goes down and at 20 minutes the water will be below the rivets of the handles of the paella, that is, the water will have dropped a finger and a half from its initial level.
If at 20 minutes the water has not dropped enough, let it boil more until the water drops that finger and a half indicated.
If before reaching 20 minutes the water has already dropped to that level, you can now go to the next point.
13 Now that the water is at the desired level, add the rice and distribute it throughout the paella. Stir everything so that no grains of rice are left over the meat or vegetables and all the grains of rice are submerged.
14 During the first 5 minutes, raise the two stoves to a high heat. At 5 minutes lower to medium heat and keep well, since the rice should boil 20 minutes.
15 Taste salt every 5 minutes and add a little if necessary. It is much better to add the salt little by little every 5 minutes that you put a lot of salt the first time and put too much.
16 At 15 minutes check the broth level and then 3 minutes later again. In these two moments you can find this three situations:
- That you see that you will not lack broth or you will be left over, then everything is OK.
- It may be that it is almost no more broth or you see that it is going to end before the 20 minutes that the rice needs to be cooked. Then turn off the heat, cover the paella with newspaper and wait for 7 or 8 minutes as well.
- That you see that there is a lot of broth still and it will be left over.
17 When you see that the broth is going down and the rice is already protruding from above, it is time for you to place, above and with care, the strips of red paprika.
18 You have to check, just before the exact time, if the rice is grabbing the bottom of the paella pan. To do this, you must grab a spoon and scratch at the bottom of the paella pan. Now you can also check if there is any broth left in the bottom of the paella pan.
Depending on what you find it, you must follow the same instructions like in the previous step.
19 At this time, you have to check how the rice cooks. The best thing is that you take some grains of rice from the middle area of the thickness of the rice layer. You can find three situations:
- that the rice is well done, you will know it because it is loose and soft when you bite it. If so, you have to put out the fire or do the «socarrat».
- that the rice is a little raw, you will know it because it is hard when you eat it and it has a whitish color. Then you must follow the instructions of step 16, depending on the broth that still exists in the paella.
- that the rice has been cooked too much, you will know it because the grains of rice are as open and stuck between them. So if there is no more broth, put out the fire or do the «socarrat»; If there is still a broth, put the fire to maximum for a moment so that it evaporates completely.
20 To do the «socarrat» and when everything is perfect, open the fire very hard for half a minute and extinguish the fire immediately.
21 Another important point is to leave the paella to rest for 5 minutes on the paella burner, after this time you can put it on plates or serve the paella on the table to eat directly from it, as I like it.
What can I tell you about our paella?
My mother-in-law makes a paellas that they make you feel that you want to cry about how good they are. Why? Because she cooks paella for many years and she knows all the tricks so that the paella is always very tasty.
We are not professional chefs, we are normal people like you. But Valencians have been making paella for many years and for that reason we make it so exquisite.
Well, in all of my posts I’m going to reveal you those details that make the paella taste delicious. I assure you that if you cook following our paella recipe, you will never cook paella in any other way. And when you eat it, you will taste the difference and the paellas that you have tried until today, they will no longer like you.
What is the origin of the valencian paella?
Paella is the typical dish of Spain and of course of Valencia. The paella is more than 500 years old and its origin is located around La Albufera (this information can be read in several books of that time). The Albufera is a large lagoon that is next to the sea and a few kilometers south of the city of Valencia.
The people at that time, lived from their fields, they sowed their cereals, vegetables and fruits and they raised their animals. Then they took all those foods and they used them to eat. The paella dish allowed valencians to have a hot meal on the table every day, taking advantage of all the food they had in their hands.
Since then to cook a paella a utensil called paella pan, cauldron or paella is used. In this post I used to write, any of these three ways that you can call the recipient to cook a paella.
Are all the ingredients in a paella recipe worth?
No, and flatly no! If you cook a «paella» with chorizo, then I would tell you that it is not a paella. If that «paella» of chorizo is well made, surely that «paella» will be very tasty. But you would not be cooking a paella, you would be making a rice with chorizo. That is the difference.
The main ingredients that make up a traditional paella recipe or valencian paella are chicken, rabbit, flat green jew, large flat bean (forgive me for this translation) and other more basic ingredients. I’m going to explain you perfectly how to make paella and, finally, you can eat an authentic and traditional Valencian paella.
There are also other paella recipes, such as paella with artichokes and beans, mixed paella (cooked with chicken and seafood), chicken paella (like this one), vegetarian paella or seafood paella.
Other dishes cooked with rice and paella pan in the Valencian cuisine are, «arroz a banda» (paddy rice), black rice (both cooked with seafood) or rice with lobster. In addition we also make very well the «fideuá» (cooked with thin noodles and seafood) or the «all i pebre» (cooked with broth of eels and potatoes).
I’m going to continue uploading more paella recipes and other typical dishes of Valencia so that you cook them delicious. But if you want that I teach you to cook any of these dishes and it is not yet in my blog, then you leave me a comment below and I will cook that dish, I will record a video and I will explain to you all the details and secrets.
✏ Conclusion
If you followed all the steps and recommendations that I have given you, I am sure that the paella to you will have been perfect and very tasty.
I know that this is the case, you will not prepare the paella any other way, because this is the authentic and traditional valencian paella recipe and I am sure you will like it more.
From now on, you can already make a delicious paella for your friends and family, and when they taste it, I’m sure they’ll want to repeat it.
Another thing I like is good wine, how could it be otherwise. Wine is a drink that goes very well with a good paella.
I would like to give you some recommendations of wines that have been tried and that are excellent for this paella in particular, since they are a bit fruity but full-bodied.
An excellent wine is a bottle of Arzuaga crianza red wine, this wine is from the origin denomination of Ribera del Duero in Spain.
If you prefer a slightly cheaper red wine with less body, I recommend you a Protos roble, which is also Ribera del Duero and excellent value for money.
But if what you are looking for is a good red wine for less than € 6, then without any doubt, I recommend you a bottle of Laya, a young red wine from the origin denomination of Almansa, with an unbeatable price-quality ratio.
And last of all, if you want to know which is the best wine for every occasion I advise you not to miss my entry to pair wines with paellas.
BON APPÉTIT !
It’s your turn
If you liked it, or thought it was valuable information, I would be very grateful if you could share this publication with anyone who thinks you might be interested in paella.
In addition, only with a person who does not speak Spanish, can cook an original Valencian paella, eat it and truly enjoy it, It will have been worth all the time spent writing this paella recipe for you.
