Arroz Clavado

Pacific Colombian·Easy·15 min

The rice of the Chocó: cooked with smoked chocoana longaniza, then pressed with grated costeño cheese that melts and nails itself into every grain. The base beneath pusandao and many coastal stews.

Arroz clavado is the iconic rice dish of the Chocó, the Pacific department. Its name comes from the costeño cheese being pressed, clavado, into the hot cooked rice so it melts and embeds into the grains rather than sitting on top. Cooked with smoked longaniza chocoana, it is the carb served beneath pusandao and many Pacific stews. The dish belongs to the riverine communities of the Chocó and is named among the region's top five plates.

Each grain separate but bound in flecks of melted costeño cheese, the rice carrying a deep smokiness from the longaniza cooked into it. Salty, smoky and rich, it stands as a dish on its own under a stew.

The longaniza chocoana is a smoked pork sausage, and it is cooked into the rice from the start so its fat and smoke permeate the cooking liquid. Once the rice is cooked, grated costeño cheese is folded in and the pot is covered off the heat; the residual heat melts the cheese, which then sets into the grains as it cools slightly, giving the dish its name clavado, nailed in.

Variations

A northern variant uses chorizo instead of longaniza. Some cooks add a handful of chopped cilantro at the end.

On the Palate

Where Arroz Clavado sits in the Colombian flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 6

How it's made

6 steps · 15 min

1
4 min
Slice 200g smoked longaniza chocoana into rounds and fry in a dry pan for 3 minutes to release its fat.
Watch out
Fry the sausage rounds in a dry pan until the fat runs out — that rendered fat and smoke is what flavours the whole pot of rice.
2
4 min
Add 1 chopped spring onion, 1 diced sweet pepper and 2 cloves minced garlic; sauté 2 minutes.
3
4 min
Add 300g rice and toast 2 minutes, stirring, until edges turn translucent.
4
11 min
Pour in 600ml water and salt (the sausage is salty, so taste first); cover and simmer 18 minutes until liquid is absorbed.
5
6 min
Off the heat, fold in 150g grated costeño cheese; cover and let stand 5 minutes so the cheese melts into the grains.
Watch out
Fold the cheese in off the heat and cover — residual warmth melts it into the grains, and that setting is what "nails" the rice; direct heat would just seize it.
6
2 min
Fluff and serve as the base beneath pusandao or any Pacific stew.