This Spanish Black Rice Paella with Squid Ink Based Broth is truly what Spanish cuisine is all about. Loaded with Mediterranean flavors, easy to make and done in about 45 minutes. You will find this dish in almost every seaside restaurant up and down the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
To make this black rice paella I used a paella pan. If you don´t have a paella pan you can use any type of frying pan. Here is a post where I show you how to cook a paella without a paella pan. But if you can, use a paella pan to make this dish, it gives the rice the perfect texture.
In this recipe I used a small 1/4 ounce (4 grams) packet of squid ink. This ingredient is very popular here in Spain and is essential in this dish. If you can´t find squid ink in your area, check with a local Asian supermarket, they usually have it in the freezer department next to the cleaned tubes of squid.
Since this is a Spanish rice dish, it is very important to use a high-quality saffron, as this is what really flavors this black rice paella. For this recipe I used saffron threads from Cyrus Saffron. Their saffron is truly some grade 1 high-quality premium saffron. With so much fraud saffron out there, it´s hard to find a decent brand, but these guys over at Cyrus Saffron are doing an amazing job.
Cookware that I use:
Swiss Diamond Chef´s Knife
Swiss Diamond Pans
Wood Cutting Board
Watch the Video Below on how to make this Spanish Black Rice Paella with Squid Ink Based Broth
Spanish Black Rice Paella with Squid Ink Based Broth
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 small onion
- 1 cleaned tube of squid
- 12 raw jumbo shrimp peeled and deveined
- 1/2 tsp sweet smoked spanish paprika
- 1/2 cup canned tomato sauce
- 1 cup round rice
- 2 1/2 cups fish broth
- 1/2 tsp saffron threads
- 1/4 ounce squid ink 4 grams
- pinch sea salt
- pinch black pepper
- 1 lemon
Instructions
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Finely mince 3 cloves of garlic, finely dice 1/2 of an onion, cut 1 cleaned tube of squid into 1/2 inch by 1/2 inch squares and season 12 raw jumbo shrimp that have been peeled and devenied with sea salt & freshly cracked black pepper
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Heat a paella pan with a medium-high heat and add in a 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil, after 1 minute season the oil with sea salt and add in the pieces of squid, mix around with the oil, after 1 minute remove the squid from the pan and transfer to a dish
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Using the same pan with the same heat add in the diced onions and minced garlic, mix around with the oil, make sure to scrape up anything that was left over from the squid, after 2 to 3 minutes add in 1/2 tsp of sweet smoked Spanish paprika and quickly mix it all together, then add in 1/2 cup of canned tomato sauce, season with sea salt and add in a 1/4 ounce (4 grams) of squid ink, mix it all together until well combined
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About 1 minute after adding the squid ink add in 2 1/2 cups of a high-quality fish broth, pinch in 1/2 tsp of saffron threads and lightly season with sea salt, give it a gently mix, once it comes to a boil let it boil for an extra minute so the saffron can really infuse into the broth, then add 1 cup of round rice and the cooked squid back into the pan, gently mix it together so everything is evenly distributed, after this don´t mix the rice again, but you can give the pan a quick shake once in a while
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Six minutes after adding the rice into the pan add the shrimp into the pan, 10 minutes after adding the rice into the pan lower the fire to a low-medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes, to achieve the socarrat after simmering hit it back to a medium-high heat for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the paella from the heat and cover with a dish cloth, after 5 minutes uncover the paella and garnish with lemon wedges, enjoy!
Recipe Notes
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Michele Lynn
01 . Mar . 2023Love Love Love this. My neighbor (a very particular microbiologist and cook) turned me on to Spain On A Fork and I love it. We happened upon fresh calamari (I live in San Francisco) and a local Spanish Table store helped me with the rest. Admittedly I needed to run this a few times to get the techniques down and this Saturday will be my first time serving to guests other than my Husband. Wish me luck!!!
Spain on a Fork
Sounds great! Hope you all enjoy 🙂 Much love
02 . Mar . 2023Kal
We enjoyed this dish twice Barcelona and further south. Cuttle fish ink seems to be more readily available…some even label it as Squid ink. Would cuttlefish ink work in this recipe?
Some folks are selling powder will that work?
15 . Dec . 2022Spain on a Fork
Cuttlefish ink works great and powder as well 🙂 Much love!
16 . Dec . 2022What Kind Of Rice Dish Is La Paella Negra? – Elmeson-Santafe
[…] spanish black rice paella (arroz nego/arrs negre) is made from squid ink, but the flavor is delicate. This dish has a lot of […]
12 . Jun . 2022Jorge
Thanks for sharing. What kind of portable burner is that? I’m dying to get one myself, also how long does the butane bottle last. Thanks
Jorge
28 . Dec . 2020Spain on a Fork
got it on amazon, the butane last about 4 hours 🙂 much love
28 . Dec . 2020