Vegan Paella
This Vegan Paella will quickly shoot to the top of your list of meals you make every week. Packed with vegetables like zucchini, carrots, eggplants, and pepper, it’s just as healthy as it is delicious. Throw it together in under an hour, and have enough for a week’s worth of lunches.
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Introduction
Whether you’re making something for dinner today and lunch tomorrow, or you’ve got a family of five that need food (and quick), making food doesn’t have to take forever, and it certainly doesn’t have to happen everyday.
One way of giving yourself a little break is by making things in bulk - make a lot now so that you don’t have to prepare anything tomorrow. It’s a great way of getting ahead of the game.
This paella makes loads, it’s packed with veggies, and it tastes so, so good. Hit the kitchen, grab a big pan, and get ready to become the epitome of health as you prepare a dish that everybody in the family will like. You don’t need to take pictures for a food magazine in order to make food that deserves to be in one. With fresh ingredients, some spices, and a little bit of time, you’ll be sitting on the couch, watching TV, with a pretty-looking bowl of paella in hand (and even more in a Tupperware in the fridge).
The secret to this recipe is to chop your vegetables evenly, and taste, taste, taste. The reason it’s important to cut vegetables into similarly sized shapes is that they cook at the same rate. You don’t want a soft zucchini, but a crunchy carrot. My singular note to myself when making this recipe for the first time was that it required significantly more salt than I had expected, so be generous, taste, and add more if needed. You’ll know when to stop when you try it, and it tastes delicious.
Check out the Spruce it Up section below for ideas on how to take this recipe to the next level.
Before we Get Started
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cook Time: 20 Minutes
Total Time: 30 Minutes
Yield: 5 or 6 Portions
Ingredients
2 cups uncooked Rice
I used Long-Grain White Rice
1L Vegetable Stock
The 900 mL carton of Veggie Stock works perfectly.
3 cloves Garlic
1 Yellow or White Onion
1 Zucchini
2 Carrots
1 Bell Pepper
1/2 Eggplant
Splash of Lemon or Lime Juice
1 tsp. Oregano
1 tsp. Paprika
1/2 tbsp. Curry Powder
Method
Preheat a deep pan or pot over medium-high heat, with oil.
While the pan is preheating, finely dice your onion and garlic. Add them to the pan when it has come to temperature. Cook for approximately 2 minutes, stirring frequently to ensure they don’t burn.
Add your spices, and a good pinch of salt. Pour in your uncooked rice, and add a splash more oil. Stir to coat the rice with all the spices. Cook for about 2 minutes.
Pour in your vegetable stock, turn up the heat to max, and bring to a boil. Once it’s reached a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and put a lid on your pan.
Set a timer for 15 minutes. While your rice is cooking, slice your eggplant into quarters, and chop into triangles approximately 1 cm thick. Cut off the top and bottom of the zucchini, and slice into shapes similar in size to the eggplant.
Slice your carrots, and dice your bell peppers. After your 15 minute timer has gone off, throw all of your vegetables into the pan, and place the lid back on top. Allow them to cook for another 5 minutes.
If, at the 15 minute mark, the rice has absorbed all of the stock, add a cup and a half of water.
Once the 5 minutes has ended, take off the lid, and give it a try. Add more salt or spices if needed. Pour in a good splash of lemon juice, and mix.
Enjoy.
Spruce it Up
If you like heat, finely slice a red chili, or sprinkle red chili flakes over top once plated.
Add some parsley or cilantro for great flavour and a pop of colour.
Feel free to switch up the vegetables. Other vegetables like mushrooms and asparagus would work great too.