Poor Man's Paella. $6.50

Poor Mans Paella

This is literally the most versatile dish ever and I feel like this post is more of a suggestion than a recipe because you can literally do anything with it!

Lynne introduced me to this dish when I was a student and had nothing more than some rice in my cupboard and some vegetables in a questionable state in the fridge!

Over the years I’ve played about with and developed the flavours and ingredients in this dish and will now happily make it regularly.

The ingredients below are what I happened to use this time around. The prawns can be subbed for chicken, turkey, sausage, tofu or no meat at all! Same goes for the vegetables and spices, pick whatever you prefer or can get your hands on!

INGREDIENTS

This list made two quite big portions!

Recipe 2.1
Taken by Lynne

150g cooked King Prawns
From $5.00

One red pepper/Capsicum
Around $1

3 spring onions
Around $2

Big handful spinach
A bag of Spinach costs around $4.00 and will last a week.

Handful green beans
A bag of Green Beans is around $3.00 and will last two more times.

Teaspoon turmeric
Box will cost $2.50 and last a month

Teaspoon garlic powder
Box will cost $2.50 and last a month

Teaspoon chilli powder
(Optional) Box will cost $3.00 and last a month

Teaspoon cayenne pepper
(Optional) will cost around $3.00 and will last you at least a month.

Teaspoon chilli flakes
(Optional) $3.00 and will last around a month.

1 cup rice
A bag of rice is around $2.00 and will last a week.

3 cup vegetable stock
Box of 10 vegetable stock is around $3.00.

Total cost of this meal: Around $13.00
Cost per serving: $6.50


METHOD

The best way to make this dish is all at once! If you are using pre-cooked meat this can be thrown in near the end but I would suggest cooking raw meat for 5 minutes or so on its own.

Recipe 2.2
Taken by Lynne

 

Then literally chuck everything else in the pot. Seriously. That’s it.

I find that using s large, deep-frying pan works best to evenly cook everything but if one of these isn’t available then you can cook the rice in a separate pot from the meat and veg and just mix together at the end. Cook until the rice has absorbed all the stock and enjoy!

To make this dish as economical as possible I would suggest getting ingredients either from local markets or reduced sections in supermarkets. Buying fresh chillies and garlic cloves may also be less costly that buying jars of dried spices and herbs that you might not use again! The stock is also optional, plain water works just the same!

Recipe 2
Taken by Lynne

Let us know your variations of this dish if you give it a go!


Collaborative Write up with Lynne Heather. Check out her awesome blog here!

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