Paella is a fabulous dish that you can switch up by adding different ingredients but we love this easy Smokey chicken paella. Traditionally paella contains prawns and therefore this is not strictly a paella at all. My son is allergic to seafood so prawns are not an option, although we sometimes fry a few separately at the end of the cooking time and throw them on the top of our portions. You could add prawns to the dish when you add the peas or any other seafood such as mussels or clams. The best thing I like about this dish is you start it off on the hotplate and then transfer to the bottom oven and leave it to cook. A perfect Everhot supper. Serves 4.
Ingredients
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 15g fresh parsley, chopped
- 60g chorizo (Waitrose Cooks Ingredients packet)
- 3 chicken breasts or large boneless chicken thighs, chopped into chunks
- olive oil
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
- 1 orange pepper, deseeded and chopped
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 chicken stock cube
- 300g paella rice
- 100g frozen peas
- 1 lemon
Method
- First put some oil into a large shallow casserole dish with a lid or a paella pan (if you are cooking on the hotplate only). Add the onion, garlic, carrot, parsley stalks, chorizo, chicken and paprika, and fry for around 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Add the pepper to the pan and fry for a further 5 minutes.
- Stir through the tomato purée and crumble in the stock cube, then add the rice and stir for a couple of minutes so it starts to absorb the delicious flavours.
- Pour in 750ml of boiling water and add a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Put on the lid and bring to the boil. Transfer to the bottom oven (at around 100ºC) and cook for at least 25 minutes, stirring regularly from the outside in and from the inside out, and adding a splash of water if needed until the rice is al dente.
- Stir in the peas and prawns (if you are using), replace the lid, and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until hot through.
- Season, then chop the parsley leaves, scatter them over the Smokey chicken paella, and serve with lemon wedges on the side.