Spanish Veggie Paella

One of the most well known, traditional Spanish dishes is probably the paella. Many years ago, when I visited the Spanish east coast as a teenager, I learned that Valencia is the very specific place where it originated. When I think back, I remember paellas to be topped with lots of seafood and meat on a base of deep yellow rice. I didn’t care too much for the toppings, but I was very impressed by the color of the rice. I found out later that saffron was the secret.  Fortunately there is way around this very expensive spice. Turmeric gives it a nice yellow color as well, and I even prefer its taste. Jackfruit and a sheet of Nori are the ingredients that make this veggie paella stand out by adding texture and the typical seafood flavor of the original.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 8 oz (230 g) small crimini mushrooms, quartered
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) water
• 1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
• 1 sheet of Nori (or more, if you prefer a stronger seafood taste), crumbled into small pieces
• 2 more Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups (300 g) short grain brown rice, rinsed and drained
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 4 cups (scant 1 liter) vegetable broth (preferably homemade with 5 Tbsp veggie broth concentrate)
• 2 medium size tomatoes, diced
• One 7 oz (200 g) package unseasoned young jackfruit pieces (I used Edward & Sons)
• 6 oz (170 g) multi color mini sweet peppers, cored, seeded halved (you can also use sliced bell peppers)
• 1 cup (120 g) petite green peas (frozen)
• 1/2 cup (80 g) pitted black olives
• 1/2 lemon, cut lengthwise into 4 wedges
• chopped parsley (I used about 2 Tbsp)

Preparation:

Wash and cut vegetables.

Preheat a medium size saucepan on medium heat. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil and mushrooms, then sauté for about 5 minutes until the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated. Add water, Celtic sea salt, and crumbled Nori. Cook for a minute, then turn off heat and let marinate.

Heat veggie broth in a small pot. No need to bring to a boil.

Preheat a paella pan or other large, deep pan on medium heat. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil and diced onion, then sauté for 7-10 minutes until translucent. Add garlic and sauté for 2 more minutes.

Add rice with turmeric and stir until well combined and fragrant, only 3-5 minutes.

Now add tomatoes and hot veggie broth, then stir to combine. Let simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes.

Use your fingers to squish jackfruit pieces just a little to give them more of an organic shape.

Stir in the mushrooms with the nori marinade and your squished jackfruit, then top with the sweet peppers.

Simmer for at least 30 minutes. When the rice is soft and most of the liquid absorbed, stir in peas. Simmer until thawed and hot for about 5 minutes.

For the finishing touch, top with olives, lemon wedges, and parsley. If you want, you can also rearrange some of the sweet peppers into a nice pattern. Enjoy!

Notes:

• The cooking time for this paella is a little longer, because we are using brown instead of white rice. The waiting time is rewarded with a much higher nutritional value, a delicious flavor, and more texture.
• I didn’t want to distract from the wonderful seafood flavor with too many herbs, but if you want, you could add some fresh or dried rosemary and/or thyme. Don’t use too much though!
• If you really want to try saffron instead of turmeric, only use about 3-4 threads. Add them to your broth when you heat it up. It’s a very strong spice, meant to use scarcely. It can ruin your whole dish when you go overboard with it. Yes, I did that once!