Sopa paraguaya

Ingredients

Onion base

• 4onions (about 600 g), finely diced
• 150 mlsunflower oil
• 2 tspsalt
• 250 mlwhole milk

Batter

• 400 gfine white cornmeal (harina de maíz blanco)
• 350 gqueso Paraguay or fresh salty cow’s-milk cheese, crumbled
• 6large eggs, separated

For the tin

• 20 gbutter
• 2 tbspcornmeal, for dusting

Directions

1. Sweat the onions in the oil with the salt over medium heat for 15 minutes, until completely soft and sweet with no colour. This slow start is what makes the cake taste of onion rather than of raw cornmeal.
2. Pour the milk over the onions, bring to the barest simmer, take off the heat and cool to lukewarm.
3. Grease a 25 x 20 cm tin at least 5 cm deep with butter and dust it with cornmeal. Heat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
4. Whisk the yolks into the cooled onion and milk.
5. Stir the cornmeal and crumbled cheese together in a large bowl, pour in the onion mixture and mix to a thick, spoonable batter, like wet polenta. Rest 10 minutes so the cornmeal drinks.
6. Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and fold them in in two additions, cutting through rather than stirring, to keep the air.
7. Spread into the tin, level the top and bake 45–50 minutes, until deep gold, cracked at the edges and a skewer comes out clean. The centre should still feel moist under the crust.
8. Rest 15 minutes before cutting into squares; it firms as it sits. Serve warm.

Technique

• It is not soup. The standard telling is that a cook of President Carlos Antonio López tipped too much cornmeal into a milk-and-cheese soup and baked the result rather than waste it, and the name stuck. Widely repeated and impossible to verify.
• The texture should be moist and almost custardy in the middle, never cakey. That comes from the volume of onion and milk and from pulling it out on time.
• Use fine white cornmeal. Coarse polenta gives a gritty crumb and nixtamalised masa harina turns it into something else entirely.

Substitutions

• No queso Paraguay: two parts fresh mozzarella to one part feta.
• Sunflower oil is the everyday fat, but 150 g melted butter gives a richer, shorter crumb.

Variations

• Chipa guasú: the same idea built on fresh grated sweetcorn instead of cornmeal, softer and sweeter.
• Some households fold whole sweetcorn kernels through the batter for texture.
• Baked in a tatakua and cut into thick wedges, it is the standard Sunday form, eaten with tereré.

History

Despite its name meaning Paraguayan soup, sopa paraguaya is not a liquid soup at all but a dense, savory cornbread made with cheese, onion and milk, an apparent contradiction generally explained by a popular story in which a cook working for a 19th-century Paraguayan president accidentally overloaded a corn soup recipe with cornmeal, producing a solid cake rather than a liquid soup, which was served anyway and became popular under its original soup name despite the change in form. This account is treated as plausible folk history rather than fully documented fact. The dish remains one of Paraguay’s most distinctly national foods, closely tied to the country’s historically strong corn-growing agriculture, and is traditionally served alongside other dishes rather than eaten alone as a standalone meal.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sopa paraguaya?

Sopa paraguaya is a bread & pastry from Paraguay: cheese-and-onion cornbread cake; the famous ‘soup’ that is solid. Despite its name meaning Paraguayan soup, sopa paraguaya is not a liquid soup at all but a dense, savory cornbread made with cheese, onion and milk, an apparent contradiction generally explained by a popular story in which a cook working for a 19th-century Paraguayan president accidentally overloaded a corn soup recipe with cornmeal, producing a solid cake rather than a liquid soup, which was served anyway and became popular under its original soup name despite the change in form. This account is treated as plausible folk history rather than fully documented fact. The dish remains one of Paraguay’s most distinctly national foods, closely tied to the country’s historically strong corn-growing agriculture, and is traditionally served alongside other dishes rather than eaten alone as a standalone meal.

How long does Sopa paraguaya take to make?

Sopa paraguaya takes 20 min of preparation and 50 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 servings as a side. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Sopa paraguaya?

Yes, within limits. No queso Paraguay: two parts fresh mozzarella to one part feta. Sunflower oil is the everyday fat, but 150 g melted butter gives a richer, shorter crumb.

What is the most important thing to get right in Sopa paraguaya?

Sweat the onions in the oil with the salt over medium heat for 15 minutes, until completely soft and sweet with no colour. This slow start is what makes the cake taste of onion rather than of raw cornmeal.