Paella

Paella (a Catalan word meaning frying pan) is a classic Spanish dish made with rice and fresh colourful ingredients. There are many versions of this dish but rice and saffron are necessary to create a successful paella.

Method

Heat the oil in a paella or deep sided fry pan. Add the garlic and onion and cook until softened. Add the chicken pieces and cook unitl golden brown on both sides. Add the tomatoes and paprika and cook gently for 15 minutes. Remove the chicken pieces. Add the rice, boiling chicken stock and saffron and bring to the boil. There should be sufficient stock to cover the ingredients.

Return the chicken pieces, arranging the longest cooking pieces in the centre, add pork sausage and season to taste.
Simmer gently until the rice is half cooked and the liquid is almost absorbed. Add the prawns, scallops and capsicums and continue cooking until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked. Sprinkle over the peas and serve hot.

Paella Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1.5 kg chicken, jointed
• 125 g smoked pork sausage, diced
• 2 tomatoes, peeled seeded and cut into wedges
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 3 cups long grain rice
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon saffron threads, heated in 1/3 cup dry white wine
• salt and pepper
• 500 g green prawns
• 500 g scallops
• 1 green capsicum, sliced
• 1 red capsicum, sliced
• 1/2 cup of peas, frozen

Satay

Satay sticks are a popular snack found at many festivals in Sydney. It prepared across asia and in particular Indonesia and Malaysia.

Method

To make the satay sauce, put the toasted blachan (shrimp paste) in a blender, add tamarind paste, peanuts, sugar, lemongrass, shallots and chillies. Heat the coconut milk in a small saucepan to near-boiling point, then add to the blender and puree briefly to form a sauce.

Push the meat onto the sticks then cook over a pre-heated barbecue (or very hot grill) for about 3 minutes on each side. Serve with the satay sauce.

Satay Ingredients

• 500 g boneless chicken breast, skinned
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 2 tablespoons distilled white malt vinegar

  Spice Paste
  

• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4 shallots, chopped
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, crushed
• 2 tablespoons cumin seeds, crushed
• 1/2 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground tumeric
• 2 fresh red bird's eye chillies, finely chopped

  Satay Sauce
  

• 1 teaspoon blachan (shrimp paste), toasted on a piece of foil for 1 minute (or use fish sauce)
• 1 teaspoon tamarind paste
• 25 g peanuts, chopped
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar
• 1/2 stalk lemongrass, finely sliced
• 4 shallots, chopped
• 2 fresh red bird's eye chillies, chopped
• 125 ml coconut milk