Paella

by Delia Juarez

 

4 cups cooked rice

2 bulbs of garlic, crushed

½ cup olive oil

2 minced small onion

2 beef cubes or bouillon

1 small chicken cut into pieces

4 chorizo (sliced ½ inch thick diagonally)

½ kilo big shrimp or prawns (unpeeled)

3 small whole crabs

¼ kilo squid (ink sac removed, cleaned and sliced into 1 ½ inch rings)

1 ½ cup mussels (tahong or halaan)

2 tbsp. tomato paste

2 ½ tbsp. sugar

2 packages of saffron

1 tbsp fine salt

1 tsp pepper

2 big red bell peppers (seeds removed and sliced into ¼ inch strips)

For Garnish: sliced hard boiled eggs, green peas and lemon wedges

Sautee garlic in ½ cup oil. Add the minced onion and the beef cubes and cook until very soft.

Add the cut up chicken, (cut into pieces) and sliced chorizo and cook until brown.

Add ½ kilo of shrimp, small crabs, squid rings (you may include the head), and 1 ½ cup of mussels (tahong or halaan). Continue stirring for 5 minutes.

Add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, 2 ½  tablespoons sugar, 2 packages saffron, 1 tablespoon fine salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, and red bell pepper strips.

Carefully remove the chicken and seafood pieces from the sauce and transfer to a platter. Set aside.

To the sauce, add the cooked rice. Mix well.

Transfer to a baking dish.  Top with the chicken pieces, cover and bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.

Remove the cover, add in the seafood and then bake for 25 minutes more.

Garnish with sliced hard boiled eggs, green peas, and lemon wedges.