If you or your husband do not eat meat, Engagement Chicken is not the right dish for you. This is. Paella offers the same impressive display of home cooking, but with a Latin American flavor and a purely vegetarian list of ingredients. The play of flavors and colors – yellow rice, green peas, red peppers, smoked tofu – is so tempting that even meat lovers find it impossible to resist. Put the pan on the table and serve it directly as in Spain.
Serves 6
5 cups vegetable broth 1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons sweet paprika ½ teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons salt ¼ cup olive oil 8 ounces smoked tofu Four 6- to 7-ounce chorizo-style vegetarian protein sausages
1 medium onion, chopped 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped ½ red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced ½ green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced 1½ cups medium-grain (or bomba) rice
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise One
9-ounce package frozen artichokes, thawed and quartered lengthwise ½ cup frozen peas, thawed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 1 lemon
- In a medium saucepan, bring 3 cups vegetable broth, tomato paste, paprika, turmeric, and salt to a boil and set the heat to a barren level, keeping the pot partially covered.
- Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch deep, heavy non-stick or cast-iron frying pan over moderate heat. Add and cook the whole block of tofu and sausages, turning once until it is browned, all about 3 minutes. Place on a chopping board, then cut into ½ inch pieces and store.
- Add the onion, garlic and pepper to the pan and cook with occasional stirring for about 3 minutes until the vegetables soften. Add the rice to the vegetables and cook with stirring until the rice is well covered with the oil, about 2 minutes.
- Add the tofu, sausage, tomatoes, artichokes and 3 cups of simmering vegetable broth. Stir well to distribute the ingredients evenly. Set the heat to low and cook without stirring until most of the liquid is absorbed, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the remaining 2 cups of vegetable stock and sprinkle the peas on the surface of the rice. Continue cooking without stirring until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is al dente for 8 to 10 minutes longer. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with lemon wedges.