COOKED up a whole paellera worth of delicious Paella Valenciana with F&B World editor Marilen Fontanilla at The Cookery, Kensington Place, in Bonifacio Global City, yesterday afternoon (September 26, 2013).
The occasion was the launch of the Knorr Kitchenhood Clinics in celebration of Knorr’s 175th anniversary, and the Knorr Kitchenhood Clinics is a movement that invites kindred spirits to share their cooking experiences in a community of women with a shared passion and camaraderie. One such woman happens to be Sari Jorge of 25 Mushrooms who is getting more and more known for being a “savior” in the kitchen for housewives struggling with family meal preparations, as she makes full use of her culinary training to help women learn the kitchen basics and in the process gain confidence to create delicious meals for their own families. In her wish and effort to share her knowledge with others, she opened 25 Mushrooms in her home. It was initially a training center designed to teach household helps simple cooking lessons, but it has through the years transformed into what it is today – a favorite culinary gathering for moms, housewives and aspiring cooks in the metro.
Small wonder Knorr picked Sari Jorge to lead the Knorr Kitchenhood Clinics.
To give members of media a fairly good idea of what the Knorr Kitchenhood Clinics is all about, Knorr staged one such ‘kitchenhood clinic’ during the launch yesterday (September 26, 2013). Media people present were paired up and made to cook a certain dish made easier using Knorr mixes. Representing FLAVORS Magazine, I teamed up with Marilen, and the dish that we were supposed to do, as indicated on the piece of rolled paper picked by Marilen from the fishbowl, was Vietnamese Pomelo & Prawn Salad. But, tough luck, it was sequestered from us because Knorr officials said it was too easy. So I picked from the fishbowl this time, and Chicken Chorizo & Bean Stew it was now supposed to be. But there were just a few of us present yesterday afternoon, and the Knorr officials said somebody had to do the Paella Valenciana, so Marilen and I volunteered to do that, relinquishing our right to Chicken Chorizo & Bean Stew in favor of Paella Valenciana.
So, Paella Valenciana it was for us. Careful, Sari Jorge and the Knorr chefs told us, because the Paella Valenciana prepared by the earlier batch got kinda burned. So Marilen and I cooked our paella over low fire and kept a close eye on it until it was cooked. Lo and behold! It turned out to be really good. Here’s the recipe…
olive oil for sautéing and drizzling
1 pc. chorizo de Bilbao, sliced
1/4 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped
1 Tbsp. chopped onion
1 Tbsp. chopped garlic
1/4 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp. rock salt
1-1/4 cups Japanese rice
4 Tbsps. Knorr Menudo Complete Recipe Mix + 2-3/4 cups water
3 pcs. prawns, deveined
100 grams halaan (clams)
100 grams tahong (mussels)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
green peas, thawed
1 hard-boiled egg, sliced*
1. Heat a little olive oil in a paellera or sauté pan. Add chorizo and cook until fat is rendered. Remove from pan and set aside.
2. Add chopped green and red bell pepper to pan. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Add onion, and sauté for 2 minutes. Add garlic, and cook for another 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and rock salt and do the same. Add rice, and sauté for 2 minutes, making sure the grains are fully coated with oil.
3. Dissolve Knorr Menudo Complete Recipe Mix in water. Add three-fourths of the mixture to the paellera. Bring mixture to a boil and cover with aluminum foil.
4. When rice is cooked halfway, about 15 minutes, remove aluminum foil and add prawns, clams and mussels. Add the remaining one-fourth of the menudo mixture. Cover with foil again and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.
5. When rice is almost cooked (*the color of the prawns has turned completely orange), remove seafood and set aside. Mix the rice so it gets evenly cooked, drizzling it with olive oil. Depending on the doneness of the rice at this point, you might have to cook it for a few minutes more.
6. When done, mix in green peas, put the seafood back in and arrange decoratively, then garnish with the cooked chorizo and sliced hard-boiled egg (*boil the egg for only 9 minutes).
Serves 4.
