paella

I had long wanted to learn to make paella. Watching how it is made in travel shows intimidated me as they always show you some Spanish chefs prepared it in an open fire with only twigs as fuel. Also I discovered that an online purveyor of Spanish food is more than happy to sell you everything you would need to make paella.

Like many cooking it is best to just do it and learn from your mistake. I decided to plunge in with both feet. Paella is remarkably similar to Chinese clay pot rice though the ingredients and technique in preparing them are different.

It turned out making paella is much easier if you have some cooking foundation. There are always certain things you can do without and still end up with a very good result. Because I wanted to try my hand so bad I couldn't wait to get the paella pan. I initially just make do with a French steel frying pan. I chose the French mild steel frying pan because it has very similar characteristics as the authentic Spanish paella pan.

I used short grain rice that is normally used for sushi. While I initially used saffron I soon prefer annato seed. Annato seed is used in Puerto Rico cuisines. Some calls it poor men's saffron. To use annato seed you have to extract the flavor and color from the seed with oil without burning them. They impart a nice subtle fragrance and golden color to the rice.

this photo shows the immediate stage where the rice has yet to absorb enough moisture

this one has chicken, oysters, scallop, and calamari

closeup - this can feed 2 person easily

a different version

Eventually I bought a paella pan but it is too big for 1 or 2 person.

I then acquired 2 more different sizes. Now I have 3 paella pans. They are all mild steel with dimples on the bottom.
one person size

closeup of the browned bits - the rice is yellow from the annato seed

this one has crayfish from Oregon