The Catalan fideua is the not so famous sister of the popular paella. The majority of the tourists would ask for paella when visiting Spain, but no one really knows about the fideua. Although the taste of the Spanish fideua is totally different from the paella, it´s true that these two dishes have many similarities. Next, we will tell you all about How to make the traditional Spanish fideua recipe, about its ingredients, its different types, origin and much more:
Traditional Spanish fideua recipe
The recipe for Spanish fideua is very simple, it will take you a total of 45 minutes to 1 hour. The hardest part is to find the ingredients if you are not in Spain. For example, to make the correct fideua you would need pasta noodles known as fideos, but unfortunately unless you find them at a Hispanic market you won´t see them anywhere. In exchange of the fideos, you can use elbow macaroni (you will find these at every supermarket).
Other than that, we would also recommend you to get a paellera (paella pan) and the Spanish saffron. The rest of the ingredients are more or less easy to find.
Fideua ingredients
The ingredients to make fideua for 4-6 people are:
- 1 Monkfish or Bronzini
- Between 1 or 2 tubes of squid
- An onion
- 2/4 cloves of garlic (depending on your taste and on the size)
- Extra virgin Spanish olive oil
- 1 Tbsp of paprika and 1 of saffron
- 350 grams of fideos (or elbow macaroni)
- 10/12 Shrimps (or prawn)
- Salt, lemon and black pepper
- 1 cup of tomato puree
- (Additional) Parsley
- (Additional) 2/3 cups of fish broth
- (Additional) mussels or clams
How to make fideua??
- Cut the garlic, onion, calamari or squid and the monkfish. Also prepare the shrimps and fideos.
- Heat the paellera to medium/ high heat and place the oil on it. Once is a little bit hot, add some salt and the squid (for just 2/3 minutes). Set the squid aside later.
- At the same pan, Start adding one by one the following ingredients: the monkfish for 4/5 minutes, the onions, garlic, then the paprika and mix it all together.
- Once is mixed, place the tomato puree, salt and saffron. Place the squid back in. Mix the fideos with everything on the pan.
- Put fish broth and let it cook until it boils.
- Stop mixing the ingredients and distribute the shrimps. Cook the fideua for about 10 minutes.
- Let it cool and add parsley and lemon (optional)
- Enjoy it!!
What is Fideua?
As we said at the beginning, the Fideua pasta is a typical Spanish dish common from the Catalonian and Valencian area. It´s cooked the same way as the paella but instead of using rice is a dish made of fideos (noodles).
Different types of fideua
Although the Spanish dish fideua is known for being a delicious seafood plate, now there are many differen types of fideua. The big discussion as it happens with the paella is to know which one is better the chicken fideua or the seafood fideua. But don´t worry if you are vegetarian because there is also a vegetarian fideua recipe. Let´s see which of these types you like the most:
Seafood fideua recipe
The seafood fideua or also known as the shrimp fideua is the traditional fideua. Generally, is the type you will find the most in restaurants, specially if you go places near the coast. This dish has different sea foods. You will find (100% sure) shrimps on it. Other than shrimps, you can also see it with calamari, clams, mussels or all the above.
Chicken fideua recipe
Another very popular type of fideua is the chicken fideua. It´s cooked the same way as the seafood one but using different pieces of chicken. The chicken is also used to give a special flavor while cooking it. Other than chicken, many people use rabbit on their recipes, which is delicious as well.
Vegetarian fideua recipe
Vegetarians will also have the chance to try the delicious fideua noodles. The vegetarian fideua can be made with different ingredients, but people normally use mushrooms, red pepper and green beans (these are a must)
Fideua History
The origin of fideua comes from a chef of an old fishing boat, his name was Gabriel Rodríguez Pastor. Due to the shortage of rice, he decided to do the same recipe but instead of using rice he used noodles. This happened in the city of Gandia in 1915. Apparently, they enjoyed it so much that the dish became popular in the area and now is a famous dish all over Spain.