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Quick Eats

This part of the blog provides monthly inspiration to help you cook up a savoury storm in a short period of time!

Everybody has their favorite dish or food and now I am going to share mine with you! I learnt to make this when I was staying with some friends in Spain. The secret to making this is to not mix it, if you mix the rice you release the starch which causes the rice to go gloppy and sticky.
The reason why I love this dish is due to the flexibility of the dish. Once you understand the basic method you can create and experiment! The basic ingredients are the rice, onions and stock. Once you have these you can add anything to the dish. Bellow is the recipe for Spanish Rice with chorizo. If you do not like the chorizo for instance you can substitute it with something else (such as chicken, prawns or vegetables).
With this dish you do not have to be as accurate as you are when you are baking, which is a relief sometimes!

Spanish Rice with Chorizo
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped
40g chorizo, cut into semicircles
1 average sized mug of rice
1 vegetable stock cube
1 litre of boiling water (basically you need enough liquid to come about 1.5cm above the rice when it is in the pan)
40g broccoli
2 tablespoon tomato puree
a pinch of salt
a pinch of pepper

Method:
  1. Fry the choizo in the saucepan you intend to cook the rice in (there is no need to add oil as the chorizo will release fats in which you can fry it in). When the choizo in starting to turn brown remove it from the pan trying to leave as much of the oils in the pan.
  2. To make the stock add the stock cube to the boiling water and mix until the stock cube is fully dissolved.
  3. Next add the onions into the saucepan you fried the choizo in. Fry them at a medium heat until they are soft and slightly brown. Turn off the saucepan.
  4. Add the rice, broccoli, tomato puree, salt, pepper and finally pour over the stock. Mix everything together, put the lid on the saucepan and then turn the saucepan onto a low heat. The liquid in the pan should start to boil slightly. Keep the boiling at a low rate. Do not mix it!
  5. When the rice is nearly cooked turn up the heat and boil off the last of the liquid.
  6. Finally add the chorizo onto and serve warm with a light salad.