This National Vegetarian Week, we have cooked up this rich, tasty vegan paella recipe, perfect for a Spanish themed dinner party or an evening in with your housemates! Inspired by Vegan Huggs, this paella recipe uses authentic Spanish flavours to bring you a healthy, flavoursome meal.
 

Serves: 4

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2tbsp olive oil

2 onions

2 garlic cloves

mushrooms

frozen peas

2 large tomatoes

pinch of saffron threads

1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika

200g paella rice

500ml vegetable stock

Method

1. Finely chop the vegetables.
2. Heat oil in the pan. Add onions, garlic, mushrooms and tomatoes. Turn down to medium heat and cook until vegetables are soft and golden brown. Stir regularly.
3. Add in the paprika and rice and stir for a couple of minutes to toast.
4. Meanwhile, make the vegetable stock. Add saffron threads to the stock.
5. Add ¾ of the vegetable stock to the pan. Spread the rice out evenly across the pan, creating a thin layer. Leave to cook for around 20 minutes – DO NOT STIR.



If the liquid dries out, add some more stock. The rice should get sticky and crusty on the bottom, without burning.

6. Cook the frozen peas and add to the pan.
7. Remove from the heat, cover the pan with tin foil and let sitfor 5 minutes. Serve.

Top tips

 
A paella pan works best, but if you don’t have one, use a wide, shallow pan so that you can have as much rice touching the bottom as possible. This helps the rice crisp up at the bottom – this is called the socarrat. You can hear the crackle when it’s forming.
 
If you can’t use paella rice such as bomba or Bahia, try using short grain rice. Risotto rice absorbs more and becomes creamy, which is not what you want for a traditional paella!
 
Use any vegetables you like – seasonal vegetables are always best.
 
 

More vegetarian recipes:

 
Crispy Chilli Tofu

Flavour of the Month: Lockdown Lasagne

Miso Soup