Paelya

Plain rice and stock, not the glutinous rice and coconut milk of an arroz a la valenciana.

Chicken, Shellfish. Not vegetarian — contains chicken, chicken stock, chorizo, which is pork, shellfish.

Ingredients

• 500 g long grain rice
• 600 g chicken thigh, in pieces
• 200 g chorizo de Bilbao, sliced
• 300 g prawns, shell on
• 200 g mussels, cleaned
• 1.1 litres chicken stock, hot
• 2 teaspoons annatto powder
• 1 onion and 8 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 200 g peas
• 1 red pepper, in strips
• 3 tablespoons oil

Method

1. THIS IS THE PLAIN-RICE ONE. The arroz a la valenciana on this site is built on glutinous rice and coconut milk and eats almost like a pudding. This is ordinary rice and stock, and the grains stay separate.
2. Brown the chicken in the oil in a wide shallow pan and lift it out. Fry the chorizo and lift that out too, leaving the orange fat.
3. Soften the onion and garlic in that fat, add the tomatoes and cook down 5 minutes, then the annatto.
4. Stir the rice in and turn it through the fat for 2 minutes until every grain is coated and faintly translucent at the edge.
5. Pour in all the hot stock, return the chicken and chorizo, and spread everything level. NOW STOP STIRRING. From here it is a rice dish, not a risotto, and stirring makes it claggy.
6. Simmer uncovered 12 minutes, then lay the prawns, mussels, peas and pepper on top. Cover and give it 8 minutes more.
7. Rest off the heat, covered, 10 minutes before serving.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes