Encebollado

Ingredients

Broth and fish

• 700 gfresh albacore tuna, in large chunks
• 1.5 Lwater
• 4ripe tomatoes, quartered
• 1onion, quartered
• 1green bell pepper, halved
• 4garlic cloves
• 2 tspground cumin
• 1 tbspachiote (annatto) oil
• 1 tspdried oregano
• 2 tspsalt
• 600 gyuca (cassava), peeled, hard core removed, in 5 cm lengths
• 2 sprigscoriander

Curtido topping

• 2red onions, sliced paper-thin
• 2tomatoes, sliced thin
• juice of 4 limes
• 1 tbspsunflower oil
• half tsp salt
• a large handful of coriander, chopped

To serve

• chifles or plantain crisps
• canguil (popcorn)
• aji hot sauce
• lime wedges

Directions

1. Blend the tomatoes, onion, bell pepper and garlic to a smooth puree and pour it into a pot with the water, cumin, achiote oil, oregano and salt.
2. Bring to the boil and simmer 15 minutes so the raw vegetable edge cooks out and the broth turns orange.
3. Slide in the tuna chunks and poach at a bare simmer for 10–12 minutes, until the fish is opaque and flakes at a fork but is not yet dry. Lift it out and set aside.
4. Add the yuca to the same broth and simmer 20–25 minutes until it is soft enough to crush against the side of the pot but still in pieces. Fish out any woody core.
5. Meanwhile make the curtido: rinse the onion slices under cold water, drain, then toss with the tomato, lime juice, oil, salt and coriander. Leave 20 minutes so the onion softens and turns pink.
6. Flake the tuna into large chunks and return it to the pot with the coriander sprigs, warming through for 2 minutes. Taste and correct the salt and cumin; the broth should be strongly savoury and slightly citric.
7. Ladle broth, yuca and fish into deep bowls, making sure everyone gets a good piece of both.
8. Pile a generous tangle of the lime-pickled onion and tomato on top and serve with chifles, popcorn, extra lime and aji. Eat it hot, ideally on a Sunday morning.

Technique

• Encebollado is Ecuador’s national breakfast and its famous hangover cure. It is sold from dawn at market stalls, and eating it late in the day is considered slightly odd.
• Albacore, called albacora locally, is the correct fish. Its firm, meaty flake holds up in the broth where a soft white fish would disintegrate.
• The onion curtido must be raw and sharp, and it goes on at the table, never cooked into the pot. That collision of cold acid with hot broth is the dish.

Substitutions

• No albacore: any firm tuna, bonito or swordfish works. Avoid delicate white fish such as cod, which shreds to nothing.
• No yuca: waxy potato is the fallback, but it lacks the slippery, faintly sweet quality the dish is built around.

Variations

• Encebollado mixto, with shrimp added along with the tuna.
• Some Guayaquil stalls stir a spoonful of peanut paste into the broth for body.

History

Guayaquil’s fish soup of albacore, yuca and pickled red onion, eaten in the morning and treated nationally as a hangover cure.

Frequently asked questions

What is Encebollado?

Encebollado is a soup & stew from Ecuador: albacore-and-yuca soup topped with pickled onions; famous hangover cure. Guayaquil’s fish soup of albacore, yuca and pickled red onion, eaten in the morning and treated nationally as a hangover cure.

How long does Encebollado take to make?

Encebollado takes 25 min of preparation and 50 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Encebollado?

Yes, within limits. No albacore: any firm tuna, bonito or swordfish works. Avoid delicate white fish such as cod, which shreds to nothing. No yuca: waxy potato is the fallback, but it lacks the slippery, faintly sweet quality the dish is built around.

What is the most important thing to get right in Encebollado?

The onion curtido must be raw and sharp, and it goes on at the table, never cooked into the pot. That collision of cold acid with hot broth is the dish.