Recipe by: Dr. Mariselis Rosa-Sanchez
Enjoy a vibrant, plant-based paella with chickpeas, green peas, and traditional spices. A flavorful, fiber-rich dish perfect for sharing.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup red bell pepper, small diced
- 1 cup fresh tomato grated or canned (no salt added)
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon sweet paprika
- ½ teaspoon saffron threads
- 1 cup short-grain white, I used Arborio rice or Bomba or Valencia rice because absorb 3 times more water and flavor than long grain rice. If using Valencia short grain rice for each 1 cup you will need 2 ¼ of vegetable stock and for Arborio rice for each 1 cup use 4 cups vegetable stock (preferably use low sodium vegetable stock)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 3 or 4 lemon wedges for garnish
- 6 canned artichokes hearts marinated in olive oil and vinegar for garnish
- 1 canned roasted red bell pepper thinly sliced for garnish
- 1 rosemary to cook the rice and 1 for garnish
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Directions
Nutritional Information Prep: 15 min, Cook: 30 min, Total: 45 min
- Heat vegetable stock in a separate pan
- Infuse saffron with couple tablespoons of hot vegetable stock for at least 10 minutes prior to adding to the paella.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet or paella pan over medium-high heat. Then, add bell pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes, add tomato paste, paprika, and garlic (avoid burning garlic). Then add the grated tomatoes and stir everything together and add 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and pepper. Slowly pour the hot broth, making sure it's covered by stock and add saffron infusion and stir for 1 minute. Then, add the rice and Don't stir after incorporating to avoid releasing more starch. At this point add the fresh rosemary. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cook covered for 5 minutes then uncovered for another 18-20 minutes.
- You want a crispy layer of rice to form on the bottom of the pan. This is called the socarrat. Once the rice is done, increase the temperature to medium-high heat for 2 minutes to create the socarrat.
- Remove the paella from the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Garnish with marinated artichokes, red bell peppers, lemon wedges and a fresh rosemary.
Substitutions
- if you don’t have saffron, use 2 teaspoon turmeric
- if you don’t have the paella pan, you can use any large round wide skillet or pan with a flat bottom
- if you don’t find a short white rice like Valencia/Bomba rice or Arborio rice, you could use a medium-grain rice like Calrose rice, cooking time will vary depending on which rice you are using. Read the cooking instructions in the rice label
- Calories 322
- Protein 9.6 grams
- Net carbs 38 grams
- Fat 11 g
- Cholesterol 0
- Saturated Fat 1.4 grams
- Fiber 4.3 grams
- Sodium 678 mg using low sodium (125mg sodium/1cup) vegetable stock
- Phosphorus 154mg (plant protein we absorb 50% phosphorus)
- Potassium 498mg
- Added sugar 0
- Vitamin C 76 mg
- Iron 2.2 mg
- Adding lemon juice and vitamin c from bell pepper increases iron absorption