🇪🇨 Ecuador · Coast (Guayaquil)
EncebolladoEcuadorian fish and onion soup
An Ecuadorian coastal fish soup of albacore or tuna in a tomato-and-onion broth with cassava, topped with pickled red onion and served with lime, chili and plantain chips.
Origin and history
Encebollado grew out of the picante de pescado of Ecuador's coastal fishing communities. Historian Jenny Estrada relates how fish and cassava were combined with onion and lime brought by the Spanish, and how migrants carried the dish, first made with salted fish, to Guayaquil, where it fed shipyard workers. It took its present soup form in the 1950s and 1960s, sold in picanterías, and spread nationwide in the 1980s. In July 2024 Ecuador declared the Guayaquil encebollado intangible cultural heritage.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 6 servings
- Total time
- 1 h 30 min
- Hands-on
- 40 min
Ingredients
- 2 red onions, for the curtido, sliced into very thin half-moons
- 4 limes, juiced, plus wedges to serve
- 1 ripe tomato, for the curtido, seeded and thinly sliced; optional
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil, or achiote (annatto) oil
- 1 white onion, for the broth, chopped
- 2 ripe tomatoes, for the broth, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp mild ground ají (chilli powder)
- 2.5 l10 1/2 cups water
- 1 small bunch culantro (cilantro), sprigs for the broth, leaves chopped to serve
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 kg2.2 lb fresh albacore (or other tuna or bonito), in one or two thick pieces
- 1 kg2.2 lb yuca (cassava), peeled and cut into chunks; frozen yuca works well
- salt and black pepper, to taste
- chifles (thin green-plantain chips), tostado (toasted corn) or bread, ají (chilli sauce), to serve
Method
-
1. Make the curtido first: soak the sliced red onion in cold salted water for 10 minutes, rinse and drain it well.
-
2. Toss the onion with the lime juice, the tomato slices if using, a good pinch of salt and some chopped culantro, and leave it for at least 20 minutes while you cook.
-
3. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat and cook the white onion, tomatoes, bell pepper, garlic, cumin and ají for about 8 minutes, until soft and saucy.
-
4. Add the water, the culantro sprigs and the celery and bring to the boil.
-
5. Lower the heat, add the fish and simmer gently for about 15 minutes, until it is cooked through and flakes easily.
-
6. Lift out the fish, let it cool slightly and break it into bite-sized flakes, discarding any skin and bones.
-
7. Strain the broth, return it to the pot, add the yuca and simmer for 25 to 35 minutes, until it is tender but not falling apart.
-
8. Lift out the yuca, pull out the fibrous cord from the centre of each piece and cut it into bite-sized chunks.
-
9. Bring the broth back to the boil and season it with salt and pepper.
-
10. To serve, put yuca in each deep bowl, add the flaked fish and a generous heap of curtido, then ladle the boiling broth over.
-
11. Scatter with chopped culantro and serve at once, with chifles, tostado or bread, lime wedges and ají.
Notes
- Fish: albacore is the classic; bonito, other tuna or dorado are also used. Encebollado mixto adds shrimp, cooked briefly in the broth at the end.
- Assembly in the bowl keeps the onion crunchy and sharp against the hot broth, which is the point of the dish; the pickled onion gives it its name.
- Cassava: if you cannot find yuca, potatoes are the usual substitute; the soup is lighter and less starchy.
- Serving custom: in Guayaquil it is eaten mainly in the morning and at weekends, often after a night out, which has earned it the nickname 'levanta muertos' (raiser of the dead). Picanterías open early to serve it.
- Make-ahead: the broth, fish and yuca keep separately for a day in the fridge; make the curtido fresh.
Adapted from Jenny Estrada, Sabores de mi tierra, via El Universo and Laylita's Recipes, Encebollado de pescado.
At the festivals
Served at 1 festival in Ecuador.
Earlier editions
- June 22, 2024