Classic Spanish Paella Recipe: How To Cook The Real Spanish Paella

Paella is a classic Spanish rice dish made with rice, saffron, vegetables, chicken, and seafood cooked and served in one pan. We all have food that we refer to instinctively as ‘comfort food’ from the period of our childhood days in life. In Europe and along those who grew up with Spanish cuisine right at their homes, the paella dish would be considered comfort food. In fact, in the city of Valencia in Spain, one of their identification is done through the symbol of the paella. In the language of Valencian, the paella translates literally to “frying pan.” This is because they used to use a shallow pan for cooking the paella on fire in the open. So, this remarkably pleasant dish has some ancient origins. But its recent variations can be traced to the original Valencian paella cooked in the middle of the 19th century. While the Valencian paella is a popular variation of the paella, the second popular variation is the Paella de Marisco, which translates to a seafood paella dish. Filled with divergent seafood such as prawns, mussels, lobster, fish, and so on, the Paella de Marisco is just as appreciable as its counterpart. Barring these two dishes, the paella is cooked everywhere in the Mediterranean region and local varieties of it can be found all over Spain as well.