Spanish Challenge 5: Tempeh Paella

Now this dish does actually have a funny story to go with it, so I don't have to wrack my brains to try and think of something amusing...

Paella is without a doubt, the national dish of Spain. Every festival, every baptism, even your Granny's 70th Birthday, if you're Spanish, I can bet is accompanied along by the memory of having eaten a Paella.  The day I made this was the Carnival Day for Tarifa,  and being no exception to the rule, there were huge Paella pans full of rice sizzling everywhere.

Of course, being the sad old Yogi's that we are, we didn't join in with the festivities and eat the Paella cooking down on the street. Instead I made a Vegetarian version up in our apartment. Which, I think, though it felt not in keeping with the spirit of the carnival had to be done as I envisage Paella as basically a catch-all for any kind of meat, Sea Food or fish you want to throw at it. Eating Paella is basically a little sample of every living edible creature the Spanish can get their hands on and throw in the pot.

Anyway, the punchline to my little anecdote is, when all was said and done and we went down to the street to have a look at how the Carnival was progressing, pretty satisfied in our industriousness at having celebrated the Carnival in our own kind of way,  what I saw surrounding me everywhere was a vivid yellow coloured rice, where as what we had just eaten had been rather more red in tone.

The carnival. Very minutely on the right you can just see a girl holding a plate of yellow Paella

I would have to say then, I failed at the very last hurdle, perhaps, the largest too; that of creating an authentic vegetarian version of the Spanish Paella.  There is no doubt I think, after further research, that it should be yellow and in fact, having just typed in "Paella" into google-images I was assaulted by a veritable sea of bright yellow rice. Basically, what you need to do is use Saffron and less tomato, but this recipe is pretty good so I'm going to give it to you anyway.

Tempeh Paella (serves 2 as a main meal, 4 as a Tapas)

2/3 cup Evaporated/par-boiled Rice - soaked overnight if possible
(you can use Paella rice here if you can find it, but otherwise this stuff holds it's shape much better than regular long grained rice which just clumps together)
2 tbs Olive Oil
1/2 cup Tempeh (diced into small chunks)
1 large stick Celery
1/2 Red Pepper, diced
1 Bay Leaf
1 tsp Tomato Paste
1 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Cumin, Coriander
1/4 tsp Chilli Flakes
2 Tomatoes (cores, seeded and minced)
1 1/2 cups Vegetable Stock
2 tbs chopped Green Olives
1 tbs chopped Caper Berries
1 tbs chopped fresh Parsley to garnish

1. Set up your steaming apparatus and steam the tempeh for 20 mins to remove any bitter taste.
2. If you've had time to soak your rice, drain and rinse it ready for use. Otherwise, rinse in a few changes of water and keep o hand.
3. Add half the olive oil to a medium size saute pan with a lid (if you haven't got one with a lid, use a heavy bottomed saucepan). Add the celery, pepper and bay leaf and saute until the celery turns translucent and the vegetables soften a bit.
4. Whilst you are doing this, set another pan on the stove, add the rest of the olive oil and saute the tempeh until it turns a golden brown all over, then set aside. 
5. Add the tomato paste, herbs and a tbs water to the pan containing the vegetables and stir frequently for another minute to cook the tomato-herb paste. Now add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 5 more minutes until their water has evaporated. Add the rice and stir to coat.
6. Now add the vegetable stock half a cup at a time and partially covering the pot in between, adding more stock every time the rice starts to dry out until you have used all the stock.
7. Add the chopped capers and olives 3/4 of the tempeh then cover. Leave to steam for 10 more minutes and garnish with the parsley and reserved tempeh. Serve hot or at room temperature.