Black Rice or Paella Negra or Arroz Negro is a famous Spanish dish that originated from Valencia. It is essentially a combination of rice, squid and lots of cuttlefish or squid ink.
The secret to a successful Paella Negra is the cuttlefish or squid ink, which is the main source of flavor in the dish. In this Paella Negra / Arroz Negro recipe I used cuttlefish ink, which, in my opinion, has more intensive flavor in comparison to squid ink. However, you can use any of them, just make sure you have enough quantity.
To make my Paella Negra look even more spectacular I added some extra ingredients for decoration, which are prawns and mussels. However, prawns and mussels are optional and you can cook Paella Negra with rice, squid and ink only.
Last but not least, make sure you have the right rice. The best rice for all types of paella, including Paella Negra, is Bomba rice. Bomba is a Spanish type of rice, famous for its ability to absorb great amount of flavors of other ingredients you cook this rice with.
Ingredients 4 people:
🦑 4 squids cleaned and sliced crosswise
🌑 ink of 1 cuttlefish
🍚 2 cups Bomba rice or if you can’t find it could be Arborio rice or any short grain rice
🥣 8 cups fish stock or clam juice (for smaller pan you should take less stock: about 5-6 cups)
🧄 3 garlic cloves minced
🌸 1 pinch of saffron
🦐 4 raw shell-on prawns (optional)
🦪 8 mussels, cleaned and debearded (optional)
🍋 2 lemons cut into a flower shape
🫒 5-6 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
You can see my written recipe of Paella Negra on my Instagram @paella.barcelona
