Are you going to invest in a traditional paella pan? They make all the difference as you get a really good crust on the bottom..
I'm assuming you want to make a seafood paella.
What you need to make for 4 people in a single 34cm paella pan. You can use a normal medium depth frying pan if you don't have one.
250g mussels
250gm clams
2500gm prawns
250gm fillet of fish - fish should be firm when cooked
1/2 cup Parsley
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp thyme
1 tsp smoked paprika
50ml olive oil
1 small onion - finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1 red capsicum - sliced
2 large tomatoes - cubed
2 cups bomba rice
1 lemon
1lt fish stock - chicken if you cannot find or cannot make
Steps
1. Wash and dry proteins. Sprinkle salt on fish fillets to extract excess water. Leave 10 mins and pat dry
2. Heat stock to boiling and let simmer
3. Add parsley, garlic, thyme and a pinch of salt into a mortar and pestle and mash to a paste. Add dash of olive oil if you need to form a fine paste
3. Fry fish to colour. Do not fully cook through. 30 seconds each side will do and set aside
4. Add olive oil, paprika, onions, scallions, capsicum and tomatoes to the pan. Fry till soft and pulpy (should take 2-3 minutes). Add rice and fry for 1 minute. Add liquid so that covers rice by 1/2 cm. Bring to rolling boil and then bring down heat to a simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes and stir every minute to ensure the rice does not stick.
5. Add paste and stir in evenly. At this point the rice still should look soupy but the liquid should have reduced by half. If the rice is dry, add some additional liquid to cover the rice. Add fish only. Let cook for 10 minutes. Do not stir from this point on.
6. Add rest of seafood. Push in the clams, mussels and prawns into the rice. make sure edge of mussels and clams are pointing up. Add additional stock if rice is not covered. Cook a further 10-15 minutes or till the rice is done.
7. Take off heat once the rice is done. Test rice, it should be soft but provide a little bite. Cover in foil for 10 minutes and then serve with wedges of lemon and fresh chopped parsley.
Note: If you want to add saffron to the liquid please do so. I left out saffron as its not to everyone's taste