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I love to cook this when I have a decent group gathering. One dish meal, flavouful with lots of patience cooking this. You could add in mussels, squid etc. Many recipes would use chirozo but Im not a fan of chirozo, hence, I used my fav. Luncheon meat ( or sime call it spam) here. Definitely a dish to impress. I had tweak this dish along the way after cooking it umpteen times and I’m quite happy how it had turned out.

I would recommend using a paella pan for this dish because it has a wider surface and the secret of paella is cooking everything evenly in a single layer and as it cooks the rice gets toasty and crispy at the bottom and that’s what you want in a good paella. See attached image.

Ingredients: Serves 7-8

• 300g luncheon meat, cut into cubes
• 2 white onions, cut into cubes
• 6- 8 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 450g prawns, clean it (leave shell on or deshelled with tail on, up to you)
• 400g clams, fresh or frozen
• 400g mussels (optional)
• 4cups arborio rice, see image below
• 4.5 cups stock
• 2 cans (each 14oz), wholed or diced tomatoes
• 1tsp of saffron
• 2 tsp papprika
• 2 pkts of Paella mix (see image)
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 Tbsp Tabasco or Shiracha ( optional)

Instructions

1. Cook the chicken(if you are adding) and luncheon meat in a little bit of olive oil until it starts to brown and is no longer pink.
2. Move the meats to one side of the pan and then add the onion to the other half, season with a bit of salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes until the onion becomes translucent and soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
3. Add the arborio and tomatoes to the pan and stir well. Let the rice cook in the sauce from the tomatoes for about 5 minutes, you will notice it will start to brown on the bottom, which is what you’re looking for.
4. Add the broth, hot sauce, smoked paprika, saffron, paella pkt mix and season with salt and pepper if needed. Stir everything together and cover with a large lid. Cook for about 15 minutes or until most of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice, without stirring. The rice will not be cooked through at this time.
5. Turn down the heat to medium-low. Arrange the shrimp, mussels and clams over the rice, cover with a lid again and cook for another 10 minutes or until the mussels and clams open up.
6. Turn off the heat and garnish with parsley and lemon wedges. Before serving, stir everything together to allow all the ingredients to marry each other for the best flavors.