Seafood Paella Recipe
Seafood paella may be my most requested and most delayed recipe to date. As a matter of fact, it's been a while since I prepared the recipe and photographed it, but I forgot to share it. Whether it's late or not, I apologize for the delay, let's move on to our recipe.
I have shared a chicken paella recipe before, maybe you have tried and seen it. The preparation of seafood paella is no different. The ingredients to be fried are fried first, rice and water are added, the ingredients to be added later are added and all are cooked. What makes the seafood paella different is undoubtedly the use of seafood in it. What seafood you will use is entirely up to you and the seafood you can find. However, mussels, squid and shrimp varieties are generally used in seafood paella. Paela is a dish with a lot of varieties and the paella that everyone makes at home can be different.
The most important ingredient of seafood paella after seafood is fish broth. You can make fish broth at home just as you do broth and store it in the freezer, just like broth. You don't need to use whole fish to make fish broth. When you cook fish, if you don't use the heads, you can use them to make fish broth.
Except for one ingredient in seafood paella, all the ingredients are cooked in a short time, even canned peas are already cooked. So there is nothing that needs to be pre-cooked. That only ingredient is squid. First of all, I must admit that I have never used squid before making seafood paella. What you think is squid in the paella you see in the photo is not squid either. It's a sea creature called pota, which has the same flavor as squid, is meatier than squid, is easier to cook than squid, and is generally cheaper than squid. I prefer it in paella because it is much easier to cook than squid.
How to Soften Squid?
Well, let's talk a little bit about what you should do for the squid to cook well in paella. There are several methods you can use to tenderize squid. The first of these, and the one that gives results in the shortest time, is to rub the squid with sugar. Rubbing the suid with sugar 5-10 minutes before cooking makes it to cook easier. Another method is marination. There are also many different recipes for marination. The two I would recommend are milk and mineral water. Before using the squids, placing them in milk or mineral water and keeping them in the refrigerator for 2-24 hours will also allow them to cook in a short time.
Paella Rice
I also mentioned the topic of paella rice in the chicken paella recipe. There is a type of rice called bomba that is used to make paella. A small, round, sticky rice. If you can find it, use paella rice, but if you can't find it, it's not like you can't make paella. You can use any small and round shaped rice.
Enjoy the recipe...
Ingredients
- 1 cup of paella rice,
- 1 onion, chopped,
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped,
- 1 red pepper, chopped,
- 1 tomato, grated,
- 1/2 cup of canned peas,
- 6 shrimps,
- 1 squid, sliced,
- 5-6 mussels,
- 15 cockles,
- 1/4 cup olive oil,
- 1 teaspoon of paprika,
- 1 g of saffron,
- 2.5 cups of fish broth,
- Salt.
Preparation
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the cleaned and sliced squid and sauté for a few minutes,
- Add the onion and garlic and stir fry until soft,
- Add the red pepper and stir fry until soft,
- Add the tomato and stir fry until set,
- Add the washed and drained rice and mix,
- Add ground pepper and saffron and mix,
- Add fish broth and salt and mix,
- Close the lid and cook on medium-high heat until the water is reduced by half,
- Add the peas and mix,
- Arrange shrimp and mussels on top,
- Close the lid and cook until set.
Bon Appetit...