Vegetarian Paella

When I lived in Spain it became my ambition to learn to cook the perfect paella. In those days I was a regular meat eater and I have to admit my favourite version was with chicken and rabbit. My partner at the time and I tried many methods of cooking the paella and in the end we decided the half on top of the stove and half in the oven method was the best. Unfortunately we didn't have the requisite paella cooker, a large gas ring on legs, nor did we have the huge shallow pan for cooking the dish so this method seemed to be the best option within our limitations.

I tend to agree with Chef Alberto Herráiz who describes best method in his recent book Paella: "For the best flavour and texture . . . (and) the easiest and most successful method is to start off the paella on the stove and carry out the rest of the cooking in the oven."

In Spain it is traditionally a meal that is cooked outdoors - during the long hot summer's you can see the Andalusians cooking paella on huge gas fired cookers in enormous pans in the parks at weekends and fiesta days. It’s easy to buy the pans in a good ferretaria (hardware shop) and sizes range from the fairly small 2 person size to the enormous 16-20 (or larger) person size. There are many regional variations on the paella theme and a myriad of recipes which usually depend on how your family has cooked it over the years. When I was staying in Valencia many years ago I discovered there is a vegetarian version but at that time didn’t take much notice of the method so when I decided fairly recently that I was going to cook the dish I turned to one of my Spanish friends, Sylvia, for help.

Sylvia and I had gone to stay in the ashram for a few days and I had been asked to cook while we were there. Rummaging through the herbs and spices in the ashram kitchen I found some saffron which was way past its use by date. This meant it was safe to eat but probably not as fresh as it could have been so I decided to make a paella rather than wastethe precious spice. I had no idea what I was ingredients to put in the dish but knew how to cook it so checked that there were the basic ingredients of risotto rice and butter beans.

In Andalusia the locals always used broad beans in their paella and so this had become a staple ingredient in mine as it was easy to buy the broad beans in season and the frozen alternative was readily available. This wasn’t an option in the ashram so I decided to use butter beans and have done so ever since as the combination works really well. Checking with Sylvia she gave me a long list of other ingredients that could be included but fundamentally you can use whatever is available so there is no need to buy specific vegetables – just use what looks and tastes good.

If you don’t have saffron just use tumeric which will give the finished dish a wonderful flavour and the lovely yellow look. I use the following method as I have found it is the best way when cooking for large numbers – please feel free to adapt it accordingly.

Basic Ingredients for 6

450 gs /14 oz rissoto or paella rice (if you like you can to wash rice do so now and drain so it will be dry once it is time to cook it)

175 gs/6 ozs butter beans (you can substitute with 1 tin of canned beans if needed but I prefer to cook my own – they somehow taste better).

Small piece of kombu seaweed soaked for 10 minutes and washed well.

1-2 red onions peeled and sliced into crescents

3 sticks of celery washed and cut into bite size crescents

4/6 cloves garlic, crushed, skin removed and diced

Approx 1.2 ltrs veg stock

Good quality olive oil (this is an essential ingredient)

salt and fresh ground pepper

pinch of saffron soaked in 1 tblspn of hot water

1 tsp tumeric

2 tsps smoked paprika

Good bunch of fresh parsley washed. Cut off the stalks, chop roughly and put to one side. Chop the leaves finely and use to garnish.

A large shallow baking tray or a paella dish (good kitchen shops stock these)

Any or all of the following vegetables:

3-4 sweet peppers (use a variety of colours) rinsed and dried, de-stalked and de-seeded and cut into largish chunks

2 courgettes wiped with damp paper towel and cut into bite size rings

1-2 aubergine wiped with paper kitchen towel and cut into bite size cubes

Enough salt to sprinkle on the aubergines

8-12 mushrooms wiped with dry paper towel, stalks removed but kept and cut into quarters depending on size

500 gs sugar snap peas washed and topped and tailed (if not available you can use fresh peas podded when in season or frozen – normal size rather than petit-pois)

2 carrots peeled and cut into diagonal shaped rings

Optional added extras – I hard boiled egg per person – peeled and chopped roughly.

NB when cutting all the vegetables bear in mind that the dish is cooked for quite a long time so don’t make the pieces too small (or they will disappear) nor too big to put into your mouth.

Method
1. Firstly soak the butter beans for at least 8 hours or overnight. Rinse and change the water a few times during soaking if possible. Finally drain and rise well before placing into a large pan with enough cold water to more than cover. Add the washed kombu and bring the beans to the boil – they will take around 1 ½ to 2 hours to cook but keep an eye on them as you want them to stay whole and if anything slightly undercooked. Also check, from time to time, the level of water.

2. Once cooked drain well but reserve the cooking water and use plus any additional water to make up the quantity for the vegetable stock (one reason best not to add any salt to the cooking beans). Put to one side to cool and refrigerate in necessary.

3. While the beans are cooking you can do the following: prepare the aubergine and place into a colander – sprinkle with salt and place a plate on top with a heavy weight to press down. Leave in a suitable container for around 30 minutes to drain. Some people say it’s not necessary to do this but I always regret it if I don’t as I think the salting and draining gives the aubergine a more interesting flavour.

4. Prepare the onion, celery, peppers, carrots and mushrooms. Using a large shallow roasting tin (placed on top of your cooker) add enough oil to gently saute the onions. Once the onions start to look cooked i.e softened and glistening add the celery stirring gently into the onions and cook until this starts to soften. Continue this process with the peppers, then lastly the carrots. This step will take about 5-8 minutes depending on your ingredients; don’t spend too long at this stage because you are going to place the whole tin in the oven at the end of cooking when the veg will be cooked through. Once they are ready i.e al dente and still whole remove and leave to one side to cool.

6. Prepare the garlic by crushing it well using the flat blade of a large knife and chopping finely; keep to one side. Rinse the aubergine well and dry – a lettuce spinner does the job well or pat with a clean kitchen cloth. Taking a large baking tray with enough oil to coat the aubergines toss them in this along with the chopped garlic. Place the pan in the oven at gas 4/5 or 170-180 for stirring occasionally until the aubergine starts to look slightly cooked. (Approx 15 mins). Once cooked to al dente you can add the aubergine to the onion and pepper mix stirring gently together to make sure the vegetables stay whole and good looking.

7. The mushrooms can be oven cooked in exactly the same way as the aubergine but only cooked until they just start to brown and if liked adding more garlic in the same way – or they can be pan fried in a little oil until they just start softening and loosing their juices. Add to the remaining vegetables.

8. At this stage all the vegetables except for the peas and the courgette are par cooked and can be combined gently with the cooked beans and put to one side – you can refrigerate them in a suitable container if needed and use the following day. If not place to one side and prepare the peas and the courgettes; add them to the pre cooked vegetables. Now is a good time to add salt and pepper. Check the level of salt carefully as the beans need quite a bit to bring out their flavour.

You are now ready to start cooking the paella; timing is crucial as you want to take it more or less straight to the serving table once it’s cooked. It can be kept warm with some foil covering but it’s best served straight away.

9. Taking a large pan of your choice place all your cooked vegetable inside plus the uncooked (parsley stalks, courgette and peas) and the tumeric, paprika. At this stage you will have an idea if the pan is going to be large enough but bear in mind you are going to add rice and stock and the rice is going to expand. Adding more oil if you think it is needed (you really cannot have too much oil in this recipe)

10. Place the washed and drained rice into a separate large heavy bottomed pan add the stock and saffron (if using) with soaking water. Bring the pan to the boil and let the rice cook for around 3-4 minutes or until the liquid has almost been absorbed. Remove from the heat and add the part cooked rice to the rest of the vegetables stirring gently to even out the mixture. Place the pan uncovered in the preheated oven on gas 4 or 180 and cook through without stirring for around 30 minutes. If the rice starts to burn badly cover the dish with foil (shiny side down) but a crisp outer edge is what you are looking for.

11. Serve the dish garnished with the chopped parsley, lemon wedges and for the very hungry non vegans chopped hard boiled eggs can be sprinkled on top at this stage.