Archive for April 26th, 2008

Quick Paella

I don’t know why (maybe because summer season is coming) yesterday I got this spanish blues … missing living in Spain, missing eating “tapas”, missing walking around the “La rambla”, Anyhow as now is also the “shrimps” season in middle east, so last night I bought some nice fresh tiger shimps and today I made  “Paella” to heal my spanish blues just a little. 😉

My paella is an easy-quick recipe, I don’t many kinds of sea food (they used to throw all kinds of “frutas del mar” into paella) just wanted to make it simple by only using shrimps, and I dont have this special paella pan either,so I used a normal saute pan with lid 🙂

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 250 gr shrimps 
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1 big tomato (diced) 
  • 1 pack of chicken stock (maggie)
  •  salt and black pepper
  • 1 cup frozen mix carrot and peas, thawed
  • lemon juice (optional)
  • Directions

    1. Heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Cook shrimp until just pink on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes (do not overcook). Transfer to a plate.
    2. Add remaining tablespoon oil to pan; then add onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and rice; cook, stirring to coat, until rice is translucent, 1 to 2 minutes.
    3. Stir in chicken stock, turmeric, tomatoes, and water, scraping up browned bits from bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Stir in peas and carrots; season with salt and pepper.
    4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Add in shrimps, cover, and cook until rice is tender and has absorbed almost all liquid, 20 to 25 minutes, serve immediately. Springkle some lemon juice over the top before eating (optional)