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Hop over to Spain with Sonia to taste one of the most famous and appreciated rice dishes in the worl...
Hop over to Spain with Sonia to taste one of the most famous and appreciated rice dishes in the world: the Valencian paella!
The first, true paella was born in Valencia and, as most of the traditional dishes, it's the result of peasants' creativity. The poor and humble people worked in the country and in the rice fields and at lunchtime they gathered and prepared this dish with anything available: rice, duck, rabbit, French beans, tomatoes, saffron and, if there were any around, slugs.
At the end of the 19th century, the paella began to be offered on the tavern menus and in the kiosks along the beaches of Valencia and Alicante, from whence it spread to the rest of Spain and then all over the world thanks to tourists.
Nowadays the paella is one of the most common and appreciated dishes in the world.
Etymologically the word "paella" derives from the Latin "patella", from whence derives also the Italian "padella", which means a very large and shallow iron saucepan with 2 side handles, which was used above all by Valencian people to cook rice-based dishes or fideos (the Spanish spaghetti).
Initially the paella was called "arròs a la paella", that is "sautéed rice", but with the passing of time the recipe got the name of paella, while the saucepan itself is called "paellera".
First of all gut and cut into small pieces the chicken and the rabbit (1), then put the oil in the typical frying pan (paella) and heat it (2); add some salt (3) and
add the pieces of chicken and rabbit (4), then brown them on a medium flame for at least 10-15 minutes, flipping the meat over on each side; cut the snow peas into thirds and the peppers into strips (5) and when the chicken is well browned (6)
add the snow peas cut into thirds (7) and the strips of pepper (8): brown everything for 10 minutes more, stirring occasionally. Add the large white beans (9) (if they're fresh you can add them together with the other vegetables) and, after a couple of minutes, add the tomato puree (10). After stirring, add the hot water (or broth) (11), the spices (chili pepper, saffron and paprika) and blend everything well (12);
add salt to taste to make the broth flavoursome (13) and finally add the rice (14), spreading it evenly into the paellera. From this moment on, don't touch the rice anymore (15). Raise the heat and cook for 7-8 minutes on a high flame, after that lower the heat and go on cooking for 10 minutes more on a medium flame, until the rice dries out. With this purpose, after the 18 minutes have passed, check the centre of the paella with a spoon, moving some rice aside: if there is no more cooking liquid, the Valencian paella has dried well and it's ready to be tasted! http://www.vitalrecipe.com/
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