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Recipe · 3 min read

Arroz Rossejat

Arrossejat (L'Ametlla de Mar)

Seco · dry Cooked in Paella Cataluña

⚠️ Source-confidence note: the town's festival, the Diada de l'Arrossejat in L'Ametlla de Mar (40 editions), is well documented, but I found no published recipe. The method below is reconstructed from the rossejat technique (toasting the dry grain in oil, then cooking it in fish broth), which is documented for the town's sister dish, fideus rossejats de la Cala. Verify it with the Confraria de Pescadors or the festival organisers.

01Geographic & Texture Profile

  • Primary Geographic Zone: Baix Ebre coast: L'Ametlla de Mar (La Cala), L'Ampolla.
  • Liquid & Texture Profile: Seco (dry).
  • Traditional Cooking Vessel & Fuel: A paella or flat cassola on the fishing boats, over a small fire.

02Historical & Cultural Context

L'Ametlla de Mar's Diada de l'Arrossejat has run for about 40 years. Around fifty amateur cooks compete for prizes, and the festival champions the dish as heritage "born on the fishing boats". It is the rice twin of the town's fideus rossejats, a fisherman's noodle dish built on fish broth and served alongside a plate of fish and potatoes. Rossejar means "to make golden": the dry rice (or noodles) is fried in oil until golden before the broth goes in.

Culinary science: toasting the dry grain in fat browns its surface starches and seals it. The rice then absorbs broth more slowly, stays separate and tastes nutty. This is the same principle behind fideuà and its rossejat noodle relatives. The fish broth, made from the boat's unsold catch, carries all the flavour.

03Local Town-by-Town Variations

  • L'Ametlla de Mar (La Cala): Arrossejat with rockfish broth and allioli. The fideus version is served with fish and potatoes.
  • ⚠️ L'Ampolla / Ebre coast (reconstructed): Prawns from the Delta may be added on top.

04The Master Recipe (4-Person Batch Blueprint)

Variant represented: reconstructed L'Ametlla de Mar style.

The Flavor Base (El Fondo)

Ingredient Quantity
Rockfish (morralla) + heads 1.2 kg
Water 2.2 L
Onion, tomato, garlic (for the broth) 1 / 1 / 3 cloves
Olive oil 100 ml
Garlic, sliced 3 cloves
Ripe tomato, grated 100 g
Pimentón dulce 2 g

Simmer the fish with the onion, tomato, garlic and water for 30 min, then strain. You need about 1.2 L.

Assembly Ratios

Element Quantity
Rice 380 g
Fish broth ≈ 1.15 L
Allioli 150 g

Step-by-Step Cooking Blueprint

  1. Rossejar: Fry the dry rice in the oil, stirring constantly, until golden (5–6 min).
  2. Add the garlic, then the tomato and pimentón (2 min).
  3. Add the boiling broth. Cook high for 8 min, then medium-low for 8 min, without stirring.
  4. Rest 3 min. Serve with allioli, and with the broth's fish and potatoes if you like.

Fishermen's broth rices: Unsaleable catch boiled into broth; fish often eaten first, rice cooked in what remains.