A delicious mixed vegetable Paella which is a perfect one pot meal! Done in the microwave in minutes, this is your go-to recipe when you are in a lookout for something easy and exotic!
Vegetable Paella is rice based dish with its origins in Spain specifically Valencia. Its made out of a special short and roundish rice in a flat pan and Paella means exactly that pan rice.

The dish has a lovely olive oil flavour. I had first eaten it in a Spanish food festival that I attended somewhere. A seafood and a veg paella both were served and I fell in love with both. So I scooted around the net for the recipe and started my own attempt of making it. But what I couldn’t find is the paella rice here. I went ahead and used the normal sona masuri rice, though on second thoughts, I think the Kerala red rice would be good for this too.
This is a very simple recipe and I made it entirely in the microwave. It is so easy to put together and the flavors really are great with the vegetables and the rice. I loved the concept of just adding whatever vegetables you have at home.
To be honest, I think this is a great recipe if you have unexpected guests or on the days when you don’t feel like cooking anything elaborate. Pair it up with some salsa or papads or even a raita, and I am sure it will be a hit!
Spanish food is pretty flavorful. It has spices and loads of vegetables, meat and seafood in it. Of course, churros from Spain are pretty famous globally, but even the savory Spanish food is pretty awesome.
So if you are looking for a flavorful Spanish dish, this is it!
Recipe – Mixed Vegetable Paella.

Servings |
|
- 1 cup rice short grain (I used sona masuri)
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 small capsicum red (cut in thin strips)
- 1 green capsicum medium (cut in thin strips)
- 2 tomatoes medium (chopped)
- 1/4 cup green peas
- 2 baby corns sliced
- 2 tbsps olive oil
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 Star anise
- 1 onion medium (sliced_
- 3 cloves garlic sliced
- 2 tsps spice mix paella (which is traditionally a mix of paprika and yellow color, I used turmeric instead of yellow color)
- 2 and 1/2 cups vegetable stock
- to taste salt
Ingredients
|
![]() |
- Heat butter in a microwave safe pan in a microwave safe flat pan and add the strips of green and red capsicums to it. Cook on HIGH for about 2 minutes, add a pinch of salt and put in the microwave for 1 minute again. Keep aside the capsicum.
- Heat olive oil in a large pan again, add the bayleaf, star anise and chopped garlic microwave on MED for about 4 minutes.
- Add the onions and microwave on HIGH for about 3 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes and the sauted capsicum, peas and corn to it and microwave on MED for another 5 minutes.
- At this stage add the spice mix, salt, rice and the vegetable stock. Mix well and cook for about 15 minutes till fully done.
this looks incredible
interesting that Spanish rice is very close to our Pulao/Biryani 🙂
Looks yummy and nice to know about the new dishes.
Vardhini
<a href=”http://vardhiniskitchen.blogspot.com/2011/06/fast-food-not-fat-food-” rel=”nofollow”>Event: Fast food not Fat food</a>
very nice dish. The name sounds very new..
looks good 🙂 Love the click where the star anise is peekin 😉
Cheers
Kalyani
<a href=”http://itsnotmadrasi.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-mothers-kitchen-2-indian-mithai-mela.html” rel=”nofollow”>New Event: Indian Mithai Mela ending 8th Aug</a>
<a href=”http://itsnotmadrasi.blogspot.com/2011/07/guest-hosting-dish-it-out-with.html” rel=”nofollow”>Ongoing Event : Dish it out- Mushroom and Onions – all this July </a>
Interesting!! Will try it out! 😀
I always thought that paella took a long time to cook and turn creamy. Your microwave version sounds quite easy and do-able.
Very interesting to see we can easily adapte a recipe to our taste..:)..looks good Mons