Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Paella Negra con langostinos

It was an event full evening for my brother and his family as a powerful typhoon had passed by and power was lost in majority of the city. I was home for the weekend in Manila as I was still based in Singapore during that period of my life and my brother and his family stayed at my house as I was lucky enough to have power immediately after the storm passed.

That time I was experimenting making black paella (Paella Negra). He enjoyed it so much that he bought a paellero for my birthday and some special paella rice on another year.

Ingredients (This all depends on the size of your paellero, mine is about good enough for 6 people.

3 cups     Paella Rice (this is available in a few spanish deli shops.)
1 pinch    Saffron
2 cups     Chopped fresh tomatoes
8 pcs       Prawns (Supermarket Medium Size)
1 kilo       Squid (cleaned, remove guts and backbone, separate head and collect ink sacs)
1 cup       onion choped
1/4 cup    Garlic chopped
2 pcs        Shrimp cube
6 cups      water
2 pcs         Green and/or Red bell pepper cut into strips
1/2 cup     Olive Oil
1 tbsp       Pimenton

Salt and pepper to taste

Boil 6 cups water and put 2 shrimp cubes to create a shrimp stock. Once the the cubes have been dissolved and boiled for about 5 minutes. Set aside as we will use this for the paella later in the process.

Very important when cooking paella is to ensure enough heat on all sides of the paellero. Since I my brother has yet to buy me a paellero burner, I used a charcoal grill. One advantage to doing this is the great improvement in taste when cooking over wood or charcoal. I put enough coals to last about 30 mins. Put the paellero when the coals have all been lit. This will give you enough heat around the paellero to start cooking. Make sure all ingredients are ready when you begin.

Put the olive oil. It will only take a few seconds to heat up. Put the prawns and saute in the olive oil until red and almost cooked. Set aside.

Saute the bell pepper next for about 2 minutes and set aside.

Add olive oil to the pan if needed. Saute the garlic for about 30 seconds then put the squid for about another 5 minutes. Then put the pimenton, garlic, onions and tomatoes. Continue stirring for about  5 minutes as the tomatoes turn soft. Put the rice and stir for about 5 minutes to allow the sauce to coat the rice completely. By this time the coal should be about low enough to just simmer the rice. Then put the shrimp stock. Put the saffron and ink sacs and stir to mix the ingredients completely. Cover the paellero with aluminum foil enough to cover completely and allow to boil for about 8 minutes. Uncover after and put the strips of bell pepper and prawns above the rice. Cover again with the foil and allow for the rice to cook completely maybe another 5 mins.


Some prefer with about 2 tablespoons of aioli over the completed pealla for the additional olive oil and garlic taste. I prefer this one just as it is.

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