Vegan Paella

Who loves Paella? Who knows how to pronounce Paella? There appears to be a few ways to pronounce it and also make it. I love this recipe Michelle and Kavon made in the January Vegan Foundation Cooking Course.

They used my fish sauce recipe and marinated a can of jackfruit and then chargrilled it. They also were lucky enough to find some long stemmed marinated artichokes and chargrilled those too. The long stemmed artichokes looked great, however if you can’t find those regular marinated artichokes will work well too.

Note this recipe is not a complete protein meal so you could add some cooked cannellini beans or make a salad with lentils or tofu to serve alongside the Paella.

Vegan Paella

Ingredients

1 can jackfruit

4 tbsp fish sauce

1 large eggplant cut into strips and salted overnight (rub 2tsp to 1 tbsp of salt onto the eggplant strips, put in the fridge

½ tsp saffron

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp olive oil

2 medium onions finely diced

8 cloves garlic (you can use less) minced

1 large capsicum sliced finely

3 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp salt

2 cups arborio rice

Up to 6 cups vegetable stock

6 long stemmed artichokes

1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

1 cup defrosted peas

Lemon wedges for serving

Method

Marinate the jackfruit in 4 tbsp of fish sauce. Leave it to marinate overnight or for a few hours.
Rinse the eggplant then place in a baking tray with a generous splash of olive oil and cook in the oven for 20 minutes or until tender.
Place the saffron in a bowl and add the lemon juice
Using a Paella pan or wide shallow saucepan and heat the olive oil for a few minutes, then add the onion and cook for 3 minutes. Next add the garlic and capsicum and Sauté for 5 minutes. Add the smoked paprika and salt.
Add the rice and stir for a few minutes then add 4 cups of the vegetable stock and the saffron and lemon juice. Stir well until all combined. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer as soon as it boils. Cover for 20 minutes.
While rice is cooking chargrill the artichokes and then the jackfruit (I use a griddle pan).
Test the rice after 20 minutes, adding more stock if it is not cooked (start with ½ cup stock first). Add the peas, jackfruit and cooked eggplant and toss gently.
Once cooked turn turn up the heat for 2 minutes to get a crust on the bottom. Then turn off the heat and let rest for 5 minutes – do not touch the rice. Then scatter on the tomatoes, parsley and lemon wedges. Serve straight away.