Arroz negro

Arroz negro is a Spanish rice dish from the Mediterranean coast, cooked with squid or cuttlefish and its ink until the rice is black. It is a seafood rice, closely related to paella but made with a dark, ink-based broth.

What it really is

The base is short-grain rice cooked in a sofrito of onion, garlic, tomato and sweet pepper, with squid or cuttlefish and their ink (sometimes a sachet of ink sold for cooking) added to a fish or seafood stock. The rice is cooked in a wide, shallow pan, as for paella, and the liquid is absorbed while the rice is left largely undisturbed so that a crust forms on the base. Once cooked it is dark grey-black, moist and loose, with pieces of squid and sometimes prawns or other shellfish mixed through.

Arroz negro is often confused with other dark rice dishes. Unlike paella it is defined by the ink, not by saffron or a mixed meat-and-seafood base, and it is usually all seafood. Unlike the Galician or Asturian rice dishes it is not a soupy rice, and the rice is drier. Its colour comes from the ink alone; a dish coloured with soy or other dark sauces is not arroz negro.

How it's served

• Served on the pan or in a shallow dish, straight from the cooking, with the crust on the base left for guests to scrape.
• Usually accompanied by alioli, a garlic mayonnaise, served on the side or spread over the rice.
• Eaten with a spoon or fork, often with lemon wedges on the side.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the main ingredients: short-grain rice, squid or cuttlefish, and squid ink, so guests know the black colour comes from ink.
• Flag CRUSTACEANS if prawns are added and MOLLUSCS for squid or cuttlefish; the dish also contains FISH if fish stock is used.
• State if the dish is made with alioli (which contains EGGS) and whether it is served with it on the side.
• Specify whether the dish is made with squid or cuttlefish, and whether it contains other shellfish, as versions vary between restaurants.