Holidays are around the corner, and this is a great plant-based dish to make for friends and family since Spanish paella is a one-pot recipe and can feed a lot of people. You will often see paella in street markets being made in massive pans because of its ability to be made in larger quantities. This dish was adapted to leave out meat, oil, and stay low in salt. Let’s go over this recipe from a healing perspective, starting with the allium family.
Onion and Leeks
These plants are pathogen killers. According to Anthony William (the Medical Medium), if you’re eating at a restaurant, ask to have chopped onion added to your dish because it helps protect against unwanted pathogens. Particularly powerful against streptococcus, shingles, and the herpes family, they kill pathogens in the gut, have a cleansing effect, and help repair your body. If you want to support your body while eating more complex recipes, such as this one that contains starchy rice, a pumpkin protein, and fats from the olives, adding mineral-rich pathogen-killing ingredients like these will help. Sauteeing these in broth will allow their healing properties to be released.
Lemon
Lemon is the ultimate substitute for salt and a great way to “wake up” and add complexity to any dish you’re making. This is in great part because they offer mineral salts and trace mineral salts. Adding extra lemon to this dish can substitute the salt if you want, and brighten it. If you opt for this technique, I would check a few times throughout the recipe to make sure it is to taste and count on using 3 tablespoons or more.
Peas
Peas are a humble, budget-friendly member of the legume family. They are easy to find organic and frozen in the grocery store (hint: check Costco), will fill you up, and are a healing food. Don’t skip out on peas! It is also incredibly traditional to add a bean or legume to paella. Some other facts about peas: they contain brain and heart-healthy ALA omega fatty acids, are a great weight loss food due to their ability to stave off hunger, and have noted anti-cancer properties.
Artichokes
Artichokes are a powerful, nutritionally rich vegetable that Anthony considers a superfood. They have a sedative-like quality to them due to the magnesium and phytochemicals they carry, are densely mineral-rich, and contain enzymes, amino acids, and b12. They are great for cleansing the liver, especially when eaten at dinnertime. I recommend Melissa’s Produce because they are steamed and vacuum sealed with only the addition of sea salt. If your only option is artichokes that have citric acid added soak them in water for a day beforehand and rinse when you’re ready.
What is Pumfu? Pumfu is tofu’s non-GMO cousin made of pumpkin seed and water. Adding this ingredient to the pan with the carrots, mushrooms, leeks, onions, and garlic, will allow it to soften and soak up the other flavors. If you don’t want to use this ingredient add an extra half cup of vegetables.
Tips to Cooking Spanish Paella
The key to paella is to let the vegetables cook down in the tomato sauce and richen in flavor,add the saffron and rosemary to the broth at step #5 so that their flavors (and medicinal properties) release, and lastly, to leave the dish alone after you add the rice.
Stirring would change the texture of the rice and prematurely release its starch (think of a creamy risotto that is constantly stirred). Traditionally, paella isn’t stirred as this allows the bottom of the dish to crisp up (oil and fat helps this happen). This is called the socarrat. Because this dish is low fat, there will not be as much of a socarrat as a traditional paella recipe, however, the starch of the rice will condense at the bottom as the liquid cooks off, thickening there.
A note about saffron- if you don’t have saffron or you don’t see yourself buying any, using paprika or smoked paprika is fine.
If you need an easier recipe to follow because you are dealing with low energy, or struggle in the kitchen, throw ingredients 1-12 into your pan and allow them to simmer on medium heat for 20-30 minutes until vegetables are tender and there is little liquid left in the pan. Set a timer so nothing burns. After that start at instruction #5.
Enjoy with a side salad such as my easy-to-throw-together cabbage slaw salad recipe.
To your health and happiness,
Muneeza
Plant-Based Spanish Paella
Equipment
- 1 Ceramic nonstick pan At least 12 inches wide
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable broth, for sauteeing
- 1 medium tomato, diced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 medium leek
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp paprika or smoked paprika
- ½ cup pumfu (pumpkin seed tofu)
- 2 small carrots, diced
- 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
- ½ cup artichoke hearts, halved
- ¼ cup olives
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 pinch saffron
- 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1 cup organic short-grain rice
- 1 cup frozen organic green peas
- 1 pinch sea salt, or to taste optional
- 1 tsp lemon juice, or to taste optional
- ½ cup parsley, chopped for garnish
- 4-6 wedges sliced lemon for garnish
Instructions
- On medium heat, add the broth, and tomato paste to your pan. Stir to incorporate.
- Add the onions, leek, tomatoes, and garlic, paprika, and saute until soft, about 10 minutes.
- Add the carrots, mushrooms, artichokes, olives, and crumble pumfu into the pan. Stir and allow everything to cook together for another 10-15 minutes.
- Salt to taste. If you are not adding salt to this dish and are instead using lemon juice, add lemon juice here to brighten the flavors
- Add vegetable broth, saffron, and rosemary to the pan and stir. Increase the heat to medium-high to bring your pan to a boil.
- Add green peas and the rice to the pan, stirring to allow the rice to settle evenly in the pan, making sure it is covered by liquid.
- After 10 minutes, turn the heat down to low to bring everything to a simmer, cooking uncovered. Taste broth and salt and/or add lemon juice again to taste.
- If the rice is not cooked through once you have simmered for about 5-10 minutes, add half a cup more of vegetable broth or water and let it simmer until the rice is fully cooked. In my experience, it takes a bit of trial and error to get this part of cooking paella just right. The biggest risk is undercooked rice, but that is fixable by adding more liquid.
- Let rest for five minutes before serving. To serve, add parsley and lemon wedges, and enjoy hot!
