Arroz rossejat recipe: Sant Blai rice from Torrent

Sant Blai rossejat rice, Torrent style

Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients

Rice

1 kgBomba rice, PDO Valencia
2.5 lHot puchero stock (from a boiled meat-and-vegetable stew)
300 gCooked chickpeas
1 kgPork ribs, chopped
500 gLean pork, diced
250 gPork belly, sliced
130 mlVirgin olive oil
3 pcsLarge tomatoes, grated
2 clovesChopped garlic
1 tspSweet paprika
to tasteSaffron or food colouring
to tasteSalt
4 pcsMorcilla black pudding (optional)
4 pcsBlanquet, white sausage (optional)
2 pcsBuloquet, tied meatball (optional)

pelotas dulces (10 piezas)

250 gDry bread, crumbled, or breadcrumbs
100 gAlmond flour
200 gSugar
3 pcsEgg yolks
40 gPork lard
50 gChopped pork fat
pinchCinnamon
2 pcsLemon (zest)
3 pcsEgg whites

pelotas saladas (10 piezas)

400 gMinced pork
200 gSoft white bread soaked in milk
2 pcsEggs
1 cloveGarlic
to tasteParsley
50 gToasted pine nuts
to tasteFlour for coating

Ingredients

Recipe PDF (Yield base: 10 servings)

Steps

1
The day before, mix the 50 g, the 250 g, the 100 g, the 40 g, the pinch, the zest of 2 pcs and the 200 g, and bind with the 3 pcs, one at a time. Shape into elongated balls, roll them in breadcrumbs and keep them in the fridge.
2
Mix the 400 g with the 1 clove, the to taste, the 50 g, the 200 g and the 2 pcs. Shape into round balls and keep them in the fridge.
3
In an earthenware casserole with 130 ml and a little salt, brown the 1 kg for about 10 minutes over a low heat. Add the 500 g and leave it 5 minutes more. Add the 250 g and, last of all, the 2 cloves until it browns without burning.15 min
4
Add the grated 3 pcs and stir until it reduces to a dark purée with no water left.
5
Add the 300 g, the 1 tsp and the 1 kg and fry for a few seconds. Pour in the boiling 2.5 l with the to taste, adjust the to taste and keep it on a medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes.4 min
6
Coat the savoury balls in to taste and brown them for 2 or 3 minutes in hot oil. Dip the sweet ones in beaten 3 pcs and fry them the same way. Drain them on kitchen paper.5 min
7
Lay the balls on the rice and put the casserole in the oven, at 200 to 220 °C, for 35 to 40 minutes, until the rice is dry.38 min
8
When the golden layer, the rossejat, appears on the surface, take the casserole out and let it rest for a few minutes before serving.

Coated sweet meatballs on a plate, unlabelled

Two dishes with the same name

Best to make this clear before we start: this is not the seafood rossejat, the rice or noodles browned in oil and cooked with fish stock. It is the Sant Blai rice of Torrent, an oven-baked casserole rice with meat, chickpeas and meatballs. They share a word because the golden layer that forms on top is also called rossejat.

The casserole, the stock and the oven

It is made in an earthenware casserole, with bomba rice (the Valencia Bonita recipe asks for the PDO Valencia one). The base is made in the casserole itself: ribs, lean pork, pork belly, garlic and tomato until it is a dark purée. Then the chickpeas and rice are fried for a few seconds and the boiling puchero stock (the broth from a Spanish boiled meat-and-vegetable stew) is poured in.

Here the sources disagree, which is normal in a family dish. Valencia Bonita asks for an oven at 200 to 220 °C for 35 to 40 minutes, with 2.5 litres of stock for a kilo of rice. Valencia Plaza gives Amparo’s cassola, from a Torrent family, at 250 °C and with the stock in a 2 to 1 proportion. This recipe card follows the first and the second stays as a variation: neither is “the right one”, and every oven needs its own adjustment. To revisit how stock is measured in a dry rice, see the glossary: creamy, soupy and dry rice.

The meatballs, sweet and savoury

This is what sets this rice apart. The sweet ones have bread, almond, sugar, egg yolks, lard, pork fat, cinnamon and lemon. The savoury ones, minced pork, soft bread, egg, garlic, parsley and pine nuts. They are fried for a few minutes before going into the oven and are laid on top of the rice.

The proportions change from home to home. Valencia Bonita gives one set, and Amparo, in Valencia Plaza, another: more lard, and the sweet ones with a quarter each of sugar, almond and bread. There is no “official” figure. Amparo also has a family trick: she places the sweet meatballs among the pieces of pork fat, like a nest, so the fat holds back the sweetness and keeps it from passing into the rice.

The order in the casserole

Valencia Bonita gives the method with timings. First, the ribs, about 10 minutes over a low heat in the earthenware casserole with oil and a little salt; then the lean pork, 5 minutes more, the pork belly and the garlic, which should only brown without burning. The grated tomato goes in and is stirred until it is a dark purée, with its water gone. Then the chickpeas, paprika and rice, fried for a few seconds, and the boiling puchero stock; it is left 3 or 4 minutes on a medium heat and everything goes into the oven with the meatballs on top.

The puchero stock, according to the same source, is made separately by cooking meat, bones and pork fat in about 4 litres of water, then vegetables and pumpkin; the chickpeas are cooked separately, in a mesh bag. The black puddings, blanquets and buloquets (spiced meatballs tied with a little string) are optional, but Valencia Bonita warns that they are what keep it true to the traditional Torrent recipe.

Sant Blai in Torrent

Saint Blaise is celebrated on 3 February, and in Torrent the rice is the dish of the fiesta. Beforehand, the Falla de la Plaça organises the Rossejat Torrentí Day: in 2026 it was the sixth edition, on 10 January, next to the Torre de Torrent, with more than 30 casseroles planned to be baked in the street and served to falleros (members of the fallas) and guests. It is a family dish, a dish for getting together, made in big casseroles and taken to the oven.

How many of you

This recipe is for ten people, with a kilo of rice and a big casserole. For other quantities, the recipe card scales them; and for groups, the calculation is in how much rice per person. If you like the casserole-and-oven technique, see also the simpler Valencian baked rice.

If your fiesta needs rice for a crowd, we cook for local fiestas.

History and variations

It is the dish of the Sant Blai fiesta, on 3 February, in Torrent (l’Horta Sud), where it is also known as *cassola de Sant Blai*. Before the fiesta, the Falla de la Plaça organises the Rossejat Torrentí Day: in 2026 it was the sixth edition, on 10 January. It is a family recipe, as shown by Amparo’s *cassola*, from Torrent, which Valencia Plaza reports.

Torrent: Amparo’s *cassola*, from a Torrent family, goes into the oven at 250 °C with the stock in a 2 to 1 proportion and sweet meatballs of equal parts sugar, almond and bread, with 150 g of lard. Sources

Bomba rice

Tips

Make the meatballs the day before and keep them in the fridge. Sources

Brown the ribs slowly, over a low heat, for about 10 minutes: that is where the base of the rice comes from. Sources

Reduce the tomato until it is a dark purée with no water before adding the rice. Sources

Sweet meatballs dipped in egg white before baking don’t dry out and come out glossy. Sources

Ribs and pork belly browning in the earthenware casserole

Sant Blai rossejat rice, Torrent style

Frequently asked questions

What is rossejat, exactly?

Rossejat (or arrossejat) is a seafood technique: the rice or noodles are browned in oil and then cooked with fish stock. It isn’t the dish on this page. The Sant Blai rice of Torrent is an oven-baked casserole rice with meat, chickpeas and meatballs; it only shares the word, because the golden layer that forms on the surface is also called rossejat.

What is the cassola de Sant Blai?

It is the baked rice eaten in Torrent on Sant Blai day, 3 February. It is made in an earthenware casserole, with bomba rice, puchero stock, ribs, chickpeas and meatballs, and comes out dry, with a golden layer on top. It is cooked as a family, and some homes take their biggest casseroles to the oven on their street, as Valencia Plaza tells it.

What goes into the meatballs of the cassola de Sant Blai?

There are sweet ones and savoury ones. The sweet ones have breadcrumbs, almond flour, sugar, egg yolks, lard, pork fat, cinnamon and lemon zest. The savoury ones have minced pork, soft white bread soaked in milk, eggs, garlic, parsley and pine nuts. Each family adjusts quantities and spices: Amparo’s recipe, from Torrent, uses different proportions.