Brown rice vegetable paella

A healthier version of a vegetable paella, made with brown rice. Twice as nice and with whole grains!


Hola!

Today I bring you a healthier version of a vegetable paella, made with brown rice. Twice as nice and with more fibre!

This recipe is specifically for short grain brown rice, since the cooking is rather different. You cannot use long grain brown rice because it does not soak in as much stock as the short grain does. If you want to use regular paella rice, please see my original Vegetable Valencian paella recipe.


BROWN RICE VEGETABLE PAELLA

Serves: 3-4 people
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 45 minutes


INGREDIENTS

300g short grain brown rice
1 litre vegetable stock
1 cauliflower, florets
225g stringless green beans, chopped
1x 400g can of butter beans, drained
240g artichoke hearts, in halves
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tomatoes
1 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. saffron powder (or 1/4 turmeric powder)


INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Soak the brown rice in water for 30 minutes. Rinse and drain the rice, put into a saucepan with the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
  2. Over a medium heat, spray some olive oil in your paella pan, let it get hot and add the cauliflower florets, both beans and artichoke. Season with salt and pepper and stir until golden on all sides.
  3. Push the vegetables to the sides, spray oil in the centre and fry the garlic until fragrant. Blend the tomatoes, add more oil to the centre and let it get hot, add the tomato, season with salt and pepper and cook until it turns orange. After 2-3 minutes, add the paprika and saffron powder, and cook for another minute.
  4. Add the rice and stock from the saucepan to the paella pan, stir to combine and don’t let any rice on top of the vegetables so that it cooks in the stock. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat and another 20-25 minutes on medium-low or until it runs out of stock (you will hear it crackling). 
  5. Turn the heat off, put a couple of newspapers sheets on top and let it rest for 5 minutes. The steam will help cooking the top layer of rice.

You can serve the paella and add a lemon wedge on each plate to squeeze some lemon juice on top, if that is what you like (I do!). I would recommend to serve with garnish or a simple Mediterranean salad. 

You can keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days, so this could work for batch cooking.

Bon profit!