Rice cooked in coconut milk with cleaned piangua clams harvested from the Pacific mangroves, bound by a sofrito of spring onion, sweet pepper and achiote. One of the four emblematic dishes of the southern Pacific coast.
Arroz de piangua is one of the four emblematic dishes of the Colombian Pacific, named by the cultural centre Casa Balae. Piangua (Anadara tuberculosa) is an ark clam harvested only from the mangroves of the Pacific coast, gathered by Afro-Colombian women called piangüeras. The rice is cooked in coconut milk with a sofrito, the clams folded in at the end, and the dish belongs to Guapi, Tumaco and the southern Pacific river mouths.
Each grain carrying the briny, iron-faint tang of the piangua and the richness of the coconut milk, the sofrito of spring onion and achiote colouring it amber. The clams, folded in hot at the end, stay tender and burst salty on the bite.
The piangua clams are pre-cooked in their own water (no added liquid) so they release their brine, which then becomes part of the rice's cooking liquid alongside the coconut milk. The rice is toasted in the sofrito before the liquid goes in, which seals the grains so they absorb the clam broth without turning to paste. Clams are kept out of the main cook and folded in at the end to stop them turning rubbery.
Variations
A Chocó version bakes the rice into a set pastel (cake) and slices it. Some cooks add chopped cilantro cimarrón at the end.
On the Palate
Where Arroz de Piangua sits in the Colombian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
6 steps · 30 min
- 17 min
Scrub 500g piangua clams and steam them in a covered pot with no added water for 6 minutes until they open; strain and reserve the liquid, and pick out the meat.
Watch outSteam the clams dry, with no added water, and save every drop they release — that briny clam liquor becomes the rice's cooking liquid.
- 24 min
Blend 3 spring onions, 1 sweet pepper, 2 cloves garlic and 1 tsp achiote into a smooth sofrito.
- 34 min
Fry the sofrito in 2 tbsp oil for 3 minutes, add 300g rice and toast 2 minutes until edges turn translucent.
- 410 min
Pour in 200ml coconut milk plus the reserved clam liquid to reach 550ml total; season with salt, cover and simmer 18 minutes.
- 55 min
Fold the picked clam meat through the rice off the heat; cover and rest 5 minutes.
Watch outFold the clam meat in only off the heat — return it to the hot pot and it toughens to rubber; the residual warmth is enough.
- 62 min
Serve with fried plantain and ajiá pacífico on the side.
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