Paella with chicken,red kidney beans, brown rice and long sweet peppers

This is my version of a paella, a traditional Valenciana dish, which you can find all over Spain (and in the Borough market). Some say that the name derives from the arabic word “baqiyah” meaning left-overs and that it was introduced to Spain by the moorish population.  However, linguists say that it comes from the latin word palleta which means pan, giving importance to where it is cooked in.

I suppose there is a similar dish in every mediterranean country and not only. Cooking the rice with the chicken gives the dish a distinct meaty flavour while everything is kept simple. I am trying to think of a similar greek dish and gamopilafo comes to my mind; a cretan dish with pilau rice and rooster meat, served at the weddings, which is in turn a variation of the italian rissoto. But then again there are many greek recipes that combine rice and beans, few of them with the addition of meat or seafood.

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 fennel root diced
1 onion diced
1 garlic sliced
2 italian sweet red peppers
1 shot of ouzo
1/2 can tomatoes chopped
1/2 can red kidney beans
1 tbsp harissa paste
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp Garam Masala
black pepper
300 gr chicken thighs
1/2 cup brown rissoto rice
3 cups of chicken broth
two threads of safron
1 tbsp sugar

In my version of the chicken paella, I will do the cooking in a deep heavy-based pan instead of the traditional shallow one and I will be using an organic brown rice for risotto, extending the cooking time and giving the dish a different texture ( in the original recipe you use short or medium-grain rice which absorbs the water easier). My seasoning is different as well.I suppose you can add whatever vegetable or meat and seafood you want, I made mine with my fridge left overs.

First I cook the peppers in the oven for 10 minutes and leave them in a plastic bag to cool for 20 more minutes, in order to peel them. In the meantime I heat the olive oil in the pan. I add the fennel and onion and fry over a gentle heat for 3- 4 minutes. Then I add the chopped garlic, some black pepper and a tablespoon of garam masala powder and stir everything together. Now it is time to fry the chicken thighs. I push the onion-fennel-garlic aside and brown the chicken in both sides. Some ouzo to cool it down and when the alcohol evaporates I will add the chopped tomatoes, the chopped peppers, the bay leaves, the sugar and further on the harissa paste, stirring all the time.  I stir the rice and coat it with the remaining oil. After I pour the broth in and when it is brought to a simmer,  I put the heat down and let it cook gently. Every now and then I stir the food and about every 20 minutes I add a cup of hot water, until my rice is cooked. A quarter before the food is cooked I add the red kidney beans. In the end I will cover the pan with a towel to absorb the remaining liquid.

This time it was cooking for an hour ( I am in the kitchen since 10 o'clock and now it is 12, it took ages!)