Paella Portuguese

The original recipe was taken from my favourite magazine La Cucina Italiana, it was introduced by a guest author from Portugal, it was simply called "seafood rice", however I found a striking similarity to a paella from the neighbouring Spain, so I took the liberty to call it Paella Portuguese... I use frozen prawns but if you can find a fresh batch I am sure it will be even better, in any case make sure to use a good sized plump variations, not the tiny popcorn shrimps!

1-2 onion (depending on the size), chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1 med. red or yellow bell pepper, julienned
olive oil
2 tsp. powdered vegetable bouillon
1-2 bayleaves
3-4 tomatoes, peeled and diced
100g frozen green peas
200ml. dry white wine
240g basmati rice, uncooked
400g prawns (more if they are whole)
pepper, salt
Fresh coriander leaves, chopped.

Sautè the onion, garlic and bell pepper in plenty of olive oil using a large sauce pan and they are completely softened.
Add the bouillon powder, bayleaves, tomatoes and wine, bring it to boil and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile quickly boil the prawns, drain, saving about a cup of cooking water, and clean off the excesses of prawns, set them aside.
Add the cooking water to the veg. mixture and continue to cook for another few minutes.
Add the frozen green peas, mix well and bring it back to boil.
Add the rice, let it simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring often and adding a little hot water as needed to give the mixture the wet consistency (but NOT swimming like "soup"), until rice attains a pleasant texture. (firm but not tough or crunchy)
Adjust the flavour with salt (optional) and pepper as needed.
At the last stage add the prawns, mix them well and heat them through.
Serve with a generous sprinkling of chopped coriander leaves.

P.S. fresh coriander adds a lovely, unique fresh flavour, however it is not shown in the above picture, our poor batch on our balcony just died, and it was made during the national holiday so all the shops were closed so we had to make do without it :-(