At first glance, paella looked like just another plate of rice and beans that I am used to eating back home but I quickly found out it was actually far from that. When I had my first plate of paella, I did not really know what I was eating exactly, but I enjoyed it, and therefore kept eating! After the meal I asked my host mom what exactly I just ate, and she told me it was a mixture of vegetables, chicken and rice.
Paella is prepared a little differently depending on what ingredients are available. It is a dish that can be served with just vegetables, with meat, with seafood or a combination of all three. In my host family, we eat paella with meat and seafood, typically. To prepare paella with meat or seafood, my host mom first cooks the chicken in a pan. Next, to prepare the sauce that goes over the meat, she blends a mixture of vegetables including garlic (or ajo), onions, tomatoes, red and green peppers. Once the chicken is almost ready, she adds the sauce and lets the chicken finish cooking in the sauce. When she is making paella with fish and chicken, my host mom simply adds the fish on top of the dish right before it is served.
