Plenty of rice

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Rice to band prepared in a paella

Banded rice with red pepper sofried.

Arroz a banda (Torreblanca).

The arroz a banda (in Valencian, arròs a banda) is a typical rice dish from the coastal area of the Province of Alicante ^{[citation required]} (Valencian Community) Spain. Its popularity has spread throughout the Spanish Levant, from the Region of Murcia, to Garraf, (Barcelona) Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. It is a typical Mediterranean rice, typical of fishermen, with a broth or stock of fish, usually morralla (fish with many bones, little mola and strong flavor), ñora and aioli; With this broth, a separate rice (a banda) is cooked from the fish and another day a stew is cooked with that broth in which the aioli, potato and shredded fish float. It is normally prepared with a mixture of seafood and fish, such as tuna, mussels, squid rings, which is why it should not be confused with the caldero, the latter being traditionally served in soup and usually only containing fish, the latter is very typical in the Region of Murcia and municipalities of Alicante such as the island of Tabarca, Santa Pola, Torrevieja and Guardamar del Segura, or Ibiza. It is customary that this rice is served with a condiment called salmorreta.

Features

Basically, the recipe consists of cooking the rice in a cheap fish broth with many bones called morralla that had little value in the market and constituted the livelihood of poor fishermen who reserved the best pieces for sale. Little by little it begins to be made with more select seafood and fish broths.

The first thing is that in this morralla broth, with a stir-fry of garlic, ñora and fish heads, potatoes are cooked and, after cooking, they are served in a soup plate. This stew is called caldero marino, and it is served accompanied by aioli or garlic oil (separately or in a sauce boat). The second part is that with the rest of the "fund" of fish to which the stir-fry has been added, we can also cook rice in paella without any other additives. That rice is eaten apart from the fish, arroz a banda, apart. It is an authentic fishermen's recipe, who managed in this way to get two dishes from a single preparation. The alioli or garlic-oil is a fundamental accompaniment in these dishes, and it provided the humble people of the sea with calories that they could not obtain in any other way.

Arròs del senyoret or rice of the gentleman

A rice similar to this is arròs del senyoret, which is also made with fish broth but, unlike arroz a banda, it includes peeled prawns, grouper or chopped squid. The name el senyoret (of the gentleman) is due to the fact that all the chunks it carries are clean, they are eaten directly, they do not have to be peeled or cut and therefore you do not have to get your hands dirty.

On the other hand, the arròs del senyoret in the Region of Murcia is called arroz a banda and it is also eaten directly without having to peel the pieces; and the arroz a banda described here, in This same community is called the cauldron, the Cartagena cauldron or the Mar Menor cauldron.