I've always fancied doing paella. I saw a programme on TV about how these Spanish guys got a huge big pan and made a wood fire outside and cooked paella for a whole village. It looked like a fine party indeed. They put all sorts of animals in their paella and that seems to be the traditional way, but I know we don't need to do that. Not long after I saw the TV programme, my friend Sheena the Punk Rocker made a great veggie paella which I think proves me right.
This was all years ago and I never made my own paella until after a recent visit to Portugal. Sveta and I had been in Lisbon before and thought that it was a city not well served by vegetarian restaurants, but that just shows how completely wrong you can be because when we returned to Lisbon this time, instead of getting pissed off coz wee couldn't find any veggie places, we actually did a bit of work and checked out places on the internet before we went. Lisbon is full of vegetarian restaurants! Maybe more so than any other capital city we've been to (except maybe Chennai).
I mentioned Mega Vega before and it's still there, but we didn't visit it. It's only open at lunch time and most lunch times we were scooting about on the outskirts of Lisbon doing stuff, while Mega Vega is bang in the centre (which is why we found it the first time). We checked out Celeiro Dieta, which was near our hotel - also right in the centre of Lisbon. It's on Rua Dezembro, in the basement of a health food shop and it's not bad at all. Self service with good soups salads and juices. We also went to Os Tibetanos because it was heavily recommended but we left after looking at the menu. It just seemed to have too much fake-meat-type-stuff on the menu - tofu and gluten chunks...that kind of thing. It's probably really good, The restaurant was full and, in the short time we were there, we felt the ambience was pleasant. There was a nice courtyard too. We just didnae fancy seitan cutlets.
One of our two favourite restaurants was Jardim do Sentos on Rua da Mae Agua. You have to experience this place if you visit Lisbon. It's beautiful inside. White plaster walls, traditional-style wood furniture and very attentive service. It's not cheap, but it's not outrageously expensive either....and you get what you pay for. The food is fantastic. We started with olive and mushroom dips with various types of bread and then I had stuffed aubergine and Sveta can't remember what she had but says it was delicious. They had seitan on the menu but there was a good selection of other things too.
Our other favourite was Panoramico o Sol, a traditional Portuguese restaurant that also advertises veggie food. It's on Calcada do Duque, near the centre but we couldn't find it on the map. It's not far from Celeiro Dieta and we asked directions there. It was dark and the guy pointed us up the hill - 'Up there' he says in Portuguese 'Ah, the light?' I replied in English. 'Yes' he replied in Portuguese after a slight (but distinct) hesitation. So we pile up the hill towards this red and blue neon light which, when we get close up, we realise reads 'Sex shop' (in English). We thought the guy had been taking the piss but then we noticed the restaurant next door and up the hill a bit. We entered and were immediately put off by a fairly large and completely empty banquet hall. But the waiter motioned us in and we decided to give it a shot. We sat down and another waiter brought menus. We looked at the limited vegetarian selection and she said we only have this...and this...and this. Great we thought, but still stuck it out. I ordered paella and this time Sveta ordered stuffed aubergine. We had soup to start with, too. It turned out to be a great place. As soon as we ordered, the chief fired up the cooker and made our meals right there in front of us. And they were sooooo tasty. We had some wine and then coffee....
So, Panoramico o Sol wins the prize this time and they inspired me to think about cooking vegetarian paella. Not long after we returned, I found 'Ibirica' rice in the supermarket - in Armenia of all places - and that was my cue to start. I bought it, took it home and cooked paella the same evening. Sveta thought it was great too, so I decided to post the recipe straight away. I think you could use any kind of rice, but the Spanish stuff has quite thick grains - somewhere between long-grain and short-grain rice. If you can find something like that I think it will definitely make good paella.
You can see some pictures of Lisbon here.
Stick the kettle on before you start because you'll need some hot water for this. Chop the onion, garlic and carrot and fry for 5 to 7 minutes. Add the rice, stir and fry for another 4 or 5 minutes, before adding the chopped tomatoes and pepper, 4 cups of hot water and some salt. Give everything a little stir and leave to simmer for a while.
After about 20-25 minutes, when the rice has soaked up all the water, the paella should be about ready, but try a few grains to see if they're soft enough. If not, add some more water a splash at a time and stir it in gently. Another five minutes should see it right.