Food / 26 February, 2017 / My Baba

Simple Garden Vegetable Paella

Ingredients:

• 350g white basmati rice – washed and drained
• 850ml hot low-salt
• vegetable stock
• 1½ tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• Large pinch of saffron strands
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)
• 250g mushrooms – washed, sliced
• 200g courgette – trimmed, washed, finely diced
• 150g frozen peas
• ½ tsp ground black
• pepper
• 1 fresh lime
• 1 fresh lemon
• handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped, to garnish

Method:

• Place the rice in a large saucepan, pour in the stock, add the turmeric, vegetable oil and saffron and stir.
• Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer (covered) for 10-12 minutes or until the rice is tender and the water has been absorbed.
• While the rice is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan or wok. Toss in the garlic (and chilli flakes, if using) and sauté for 1 min, then add the mushrooms, courgette, peas, black pepper and a splash of water. Sauté until the vegetables tender, then remove
• from the heat and set aside.
• Once the rice is cooked, transfer it to the frying pan or wok with the vegetables, fluffing it up with a fork as you go, and combine it with the vegetables. Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice from both halves onto the paella, then stir gently. Sprinkle the parsley over the paella, cut the lemon into wedges and place the wedges on top of the paella to serve.

Recipe from ‘The Flavour-Led Weaning Cookbook’ by Zainab Jagot Ahmed. Pre-order on Amazon today!