Think of that lazy Sunday morning when you just want someone to cook you a nice breakfast and serve you breakfast in bed. Or the times when you’re at a breakfast buffet and head to the eggs counter to get your favourite Spanish omlette made especially for you. Spanish are quite lavish when it comes to food, relishing a thick omlette wrapped with tomatoes, potatoes and all things you like. Maybe you would crave for a Gazpacho (cold tomato soup) on a hot, summer day. While these things seem to attract taste buds, there is another, relatively under-rated Spanish dish, the paella.
Paella is like the biryani of Spanish (just kidding, it’s like my personal reference). By now you would have established that it is a rice-based dish with lots of meat and vegetables cooked together in a pan. The name paella was coined due to the pan (pallera) in which it is cooked. A huge pan with handles on both sides to the bear the extensive heat. Eaten directly off the pan with a wooden spoon, Paella goes well with a glass of wine or sangria.
This delicacy of the Spanish fare wasn’t always a go-to dish at social gatherings. In fact, it was a meal of the lower-working class in the city of Valencia in Spain. The farmers and labourers would retire to share a paella together, made from leftovers of feasts. Gradually, paella crawled its way into the Spanish cuisine, making it a popular dish at most parties and social events.
While you may find a plethora of Paellas, they can be broadly classified into three types, namely, Valencian Paella, Seafood Paella and Mixed Paella. While in the former one, you would find lots of green vegetables and protein like chicken, duck, snails or rabbits, the latter one, as the name suggests, is a delight for all seafood lovers with everything from shrimps to prawns to fish making up the paella.
If you love both and can’t decide, opt for the Paella Mixta (mixed paella) and relish the best of both worlds. There are many other Paella variations that have come up now and you can try them at home.