Arroz a la Tumbada (Veracruz Seafood Rice)

About This Recipe

Arroz a la tumbada is a signature dish of Veracruz, Mexico's Gulf Coast, where rice is cooked directly in a well-seasoned seafood broth rather than steamed separately — the name roughly translates to 'toppled rice,' referring to how everything gets dumped into one pot together. It sits somewhere between a soupy rice dish and a paella, looser and saucier than most Mexican rice preparations. The base is built from a blended sauce of tomato, garlic, and dried chiles like guajillo, which gives the dish its deep red color and moderate heat, along with a warm background of oregano and bay leaf. Shrimp and other shellfish go in only during the final few minutes so they stay tender rather than turning rubbery from a long simmer. It is a genuinely coastal dish, built around whatever seafood is fresh that day, and is traditionally served with extra lime and a hot sauce on the side so each diner can adjust the heat themselves.

Ingredients

Serves 2

• 1.5 cupslong-grain white rice
• 400 gshrimp(peeled and deveined)
• 200 gmussels or clams(scrubbed)
• 3dried guajillo chiles(seeded and soaked in hot water 10 minutes)
• 3tomatoes(roughly chopped)
• 4 clovesgarlic
• 1small onion(chopped)
• 3 tbspvegetable oil
• 4 cupsseafood or chicken stock
• 1bay leaf
• 0.5 tspdried oregano
• 1 tspfine sea salt
• 2 tbspfresh cilantro(chopped)
• 2limes(cut into wedges)

Instructions

1. 1

   Blend the sauce base

   In a blender, combine drained guajillo chiles, tomatoes, garlic, and onion with 1/2 cup of the stock. Blend until smooth.

2. 2

   Cook the sauce

   Heat oil in a large, heavy pot over medium heat. Pour in the blended sauce carefully (it will splatter) and cook 6-8 minutes, stirring often, until it darkens and thickens slightly.

3. 3

   Add rice and stock

   Stir in the rice, coating it in the sauce for 1 minute. Add remaining stock, bay leaf, oregano, and salt.

4. 4

   Simmer the rice

   Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes without lifting the lid.

5. 5

   Add the seafood

   Uncover and nestle the shrimp and mussels into the rice. Cover again and cook 5-6 minutes more until the shrimp turn pink and the mussels open (discard any that stay closed).

6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Let sit off the heat, covered, for 3 minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve with lime wedges, ladling it into bowls since it should be looser and saucier than a typical rice dish.

Variations

• •

  Add chunks of white fish or crab meat along with the shrimp for a more mixed seafood version.

• •

  Use ancho chiles instead of guajillo for a slightly sweeter, smokier flavor.

• •

  Stir in a handful of frozen peas for color if you want to stretch the dish further.

Storage

Refrigerate up to 2 days in an airtight container; the rice will continue absorbing liquid, so add a splash of stock when reheating. Best eaten fresh, as seafood texture degrades with each reheat.

Frequently Asked Questions