Spanish peasant paella under the Tanzanian sun

What do Spaniards tend to miss the most when they leave their home country? It might be the family, or friends, or the hometown. But I suspect it is the food. Their food, the one they are used to since they are kids, the one prepared with love and care by their mothers. That it’s why when we went to visit a friend in Tanzania we did not bring him books, or movies, or other souvenirs. We brought him food: lomo, jamón serano, queso manchego, and other niceties from home. And looking at his face when he got them, I can be sure we choose the right gift.

But this is not all that makes Spaniards a different lot. Indeed, there is another characteristic: When they go abroad, they like to share their gastronomy. They might be in the middle of nowhere, just like we were, with electrcity only thanks to solar panels, water brought from the river 5km away by pipes specially laid off, and no Internet nor phone, with barely enough ingredients and surely a less than suitable environment. But a real Spaniard will not get scared: He will try a potatoes omelette, a paella or whatever will remind him of home.

And that’s what we did, in the middle of Africa, at 2 or 3 hours from civilization and thanks only to good logistics and imagination.

Of course there is no real paella recipient. There are a multitude of variants, with pork, rabbit, fish and sea food, as well as only vegetables. They are all just as good, and all require their part of expertise, imagination and improvisation. Just try them all and choose your favourites!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of rice (some 600gr)
• 5 cups of water
• A whole chicken cut in small pieces
• 1 or 2 green peppers
• Garlic
• 100 gr of peas
• A small onion
• Colorant or saffran
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil
• A branch of thyme

Recipe:

We peel the garlic and cut the onion and green peppers in small pieces (some 1cm squares). We fry the chicken in hot oil with the garlic, green pepper and onion.

Once the garlic is browned, we discard it with the green peppers and add the water, the peas and some salt and pepper.

We let it boil for a while (some 10 to 20 minutes), adding water when necessary and correcting the salt and pepper.

When the broth is ready, we add the rice. And here there is a secret, called the “mountain chain” trick. It consist of adding the rice along the diameter of the food container. If there is enough water, the top of the rice chain will be visible. Too much water and the rice will be totally covered: take out some broth. Too little water and too much rice will be seen: add some water. This step is very important, as once the rice is added the dish should not be touched until it is ready to serve.

Then there is little to do. Add some salt and pepper if necessary, add the colorant or saffran dissolved in some water, mix well and let cock in medium fire some 10 to 15 minutes until the rice has absorbed almost all the water.

When the rice is done, take it out from the fire, add the thyme branch over the rice, cover it and let it there for 5 to 10 minutes. This last step is very important, as the thyme allows you to rename the paella as “peasant”, giving it a touch of authenticity and wilderness. It is even better if you can affirm, as was our case, that the thyme was just cut from one of the plants surrounding the house.

The paella is then ready to eat. Serve it like a pizza, giving the bottom and top of each part. If it has burnt a bit on the lower end it’s ok, it’s actually good and is called “churruscadito”. While improvised, I think our guests  liked the paella…

Tags: chicken, rice, spanish