Paella is a rice dish, originally from Valencia, Spain, where it is eaten especially on Sundays and in Falles. There are many variations of it with different ingredients. The name paella is the Catalan language word for "frying pan" (from Latin patella). However, the dish has become so popular in Spanish that the word paellera is now usually used for the pan and paella almost exclusively for the dish. Paella is pronounced "pah-eh-lyah", SAMPA [pa'eLa]. Paella is usually garnished with vegetables and with meat or seafood. The three main ingredients are rice, saffron, and olive oil.

The traditional Valencia rice, the one used for paella, is a round, medium-short grain rice. It has a marvellous capacity for absorbing the flavours with which it cooks--chicken, pork, olive oil, seafood, vegetables. You have to take care not to overcook it, though, so it doesn't become sticky. If you don't live in Spain and are searching for the right rice for paella, try Italian arborio rice, the sort used for risotto. It is short-grain like Spanish rice. In fact, the Italians got their risotto dishes from Spain. Rice in paella, is cooked in a wide, flat and shallow pan, and is always cooked "dry." When making paella or any other Spanish rice dish, don't wash the rice, for it needs its outer coating of starch. Don't expect Spanish rice to cook up "every grain separate," like long-grain rice. The grains will cling to each other, but should never be sticky or mushy.

If real saffron is not available, use yellow food coloring plus paprika to give it a sunny yellow color (but don't substitute turmeric, which has a distinctive flavor not compatible with paella).

The followings are some recipes of paella:

Ingredients:

600 grams rice (short grain)
Half a chicken in pieces
2 artichokes
2 medium-sized red peppers
2 mature tomatoes
Black pepper to taste
Garlic to taste
Parsley to taste
A strand of saffron
Olive oil (one glass, about 1/4 litre)
1/2 lemon
A sprig each of rosemary and thyme
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Fry the chicken in some olive oil. Put the browned chicken pieces into a pan with 8 glasses of water, and bring to the boil. Leave simmering for half an hour.
2. Cut the artichokes and red pepper and fry them.
3. Fry the tomato and garlic in olive oil in the large paellera (special paella pan), then add the rice, stir for a minute and then add the chicken, chicken stock (there should be 6 glasses), artichokes, red peppers, the juice of half a lemon, black pepper, parsley, thyme, rosemary, the saffrón strands (grind them first. If you haven't got a grinder, use Colorante which you'll find in the spice and herbs racks in supermarkets) and salt.
4. Once all the ingredients are in the paella pan, turn the heat up to maximum and boil for about 10 minutes. Then lower the heat and leave to simmer for another 10 minutes. After 20 minutes, the liquid should have evaporated. Turn off the heat, and leave to stand for five minutes. If possible cover while it is standing (many Spaniards use paper to cover the pan).

Ingredients:

4 cups rice
8 cups fish stock
8 king-sized prawns/langoustines
8 mussels
200 gr shrimps
200 gr peas (fresh or frozen)
2 tomatoes, skinned and chopped
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 strands saffron, crumbled
Olive oil for frying

Method:

1. Sauté garlic in a paella-type pan.
2. Add the tomatoes, peas, shrimps and saffron.
3. Cook for a few minutes.
4. Add the rice and stock.
5. Simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
6. Decorate with the seafood a few minutes before rice is cooked.
7. Cover paella with a lid in order to poach seafood.

To skin tomatoes, just cut a cross in the bottom of them, drop into a pan of boiling water for a couple of minutes, refresh under cold running water, and the skin should peel off easily.

Ingredients:

4 cups rice
8 cups water/fish stock
500 gr mussels, cleaned
Small onion, finely chopped
Olive oil for frying
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
3 strands saffron
Salt

Method:

1. Steam mussels; drain and reserve water.
2. Sauté onion in olive oil.
3. Add shelled mussels, rice, parsley and crumbled saffron.
4. Add stock plus reserved water from mussels.
5. Cook on a gentle heat until rice is tender and liquid absorbed.

Ingredients:

1 frying chicken, cut in 12 pieces
Salt and black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Spanish chorizo sausages
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 Spanish onion, diced
2 ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
Pinch sweet paprika
2 cups Spanish rice, short to medium grain, like Valencia
2 teaspoons saffron threads
6 cups warm stock or water
2 lobster tails, split
1 pound calamari (squid), cleaned and cut in rings
1 pound jumbo shrimp
1 dozen mussels, cleaned
1/2 cup sweet peas, frozen and thawed
Lemon wedges
Pimentos, cut in strips

Directions:

1. Rinse the chicken pieces and pat dry. Season all over with salt, black pepper, and oregano. Heat the oil in a paella pan or wide skillet. Brown the chicken on all sides, when nearly cooked through, add the chorizo links and brown.
2. Remove the chicken and sausage from the pan. Cut the sausages into slices and set aside. Drain out excess oil but dont clean the pan. Make a sofrito by sautiing the garlic, onion, and tomatoes, cook until the mixture caramelizes a bit and the flavors meld. Season with salt, black pepper, and paprika.
3. Add the rice, stirring to coat the grains. Steep the saffron in 1/4-cup hot water for 5 minutes then stir it into the rice.
4. Add the stock/water and simmer for 10 minutes, gently moving the pan around so the rice cooks and absorbs evenly. Do not cover or constantly stir like risotto. Add the shellfish and the reserved chicken and sausage. Simmer, without stirring, until the rice is al dente and the mussels have opened. (Do not eat any mussels that do not.)
5. Scatter the peas on top and continue to cook until the liquid is absorbed. The ideal paella has a toasted rice bottom called socarrat. Allow to rest off the heat for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with lemon wedges and strips of pimento.

Yield: 8 to 12 servings.