Saturday, April 19, 2014

Recreating Flavors of Spain: Arroz a Banda (is not Paella)



On my last night in Spain, I wanted to take some food goods back with me to the U.S. Specifically, I wanted some easy prep type paella mix. Searching in the aisles of Corte de Ingles fancy department store style supermarket, one of the very few supermarkets that are open on Sunday, I found some paella goods. However, they were juices. Yes, big cartons of liquids, seafood and spice infused stocks in large juice like cartons. Many choices and brands were offered, all kinds of paella from the golden color kind to the black ones infused with squid ink. Carrying that much liquid would add too much weight to my luggage, but I could not find the powder kind I had wished for. Then I saw this: Arroz A Banda, it looks like paella, and it comes in a convenient pouch of powder! That was the only kind I could find in the super market, so I took two to take back with me to the U.S.