National Dishes of the World

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Encebollado
Photo: Ministerio de Turismo Ecuador from Ecuador, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

soup

Encebollado

A fish soup of tuna and cassava topped with pickled red onion and coriander, served with plantain chips and popcorn.

Eaten in: Ecuador

Prep
30 min
Cooking
1 h
Total
1 h 30 min
Servings
6

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About the dish

Encebollado is Ecuador's favourite soup, especially on the coast, and it is eaten from early in the day – diners and street stalls mostly serve it for breakfast, and it is famous as a cure after a long night. The broth is made from fish, usually fresh albacore tuna, with tomatoes, peppers, cumin and coriander, and then chunks of boiled cassava and fish go in. The name comes from the onion: every bowl is crowned with a heap of red onion pickled in lime juice. It comes with crunchy green plantain chips (chifles), toasted corn or popcorn and hot ají sauce, and everyone adjusts it with a squeeze of lime.

Main ingredients

  • albacore tuna
  • cassava
  • red onion
  • tomatoes
  • limes
  • coriander
  • cumin

Ecuador: It comes from the coast, especially Guayaquil, but is eaten all over the country, often for breakfast.

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Encebollado

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/encebollado

Ingredients

6 servings

6 servings

Method

  1. Make the pickled onion: slice the red onions into thin half-moons, cover with the juice of 4 limes, salt and leave while the soup cooks.

  2. In the oil, fry the chopped white onion, pepper, garlic and tomatoes with the cumin until soft (about 10 minutes).

  3. Pour in the water, add the coriander stalks and the whole piece of tuna and simmer for about 15 minutes. Lift out the fish and break it into chunks.

  4. Add the peeled, chopped cassava to the broth, removing its tough core, and cook for about 25 minutes until very soft.

  5. Take out half the cassava, blend with a little broth and stir it back in to thicken the soup. Add the fish and season with salt, pepper and the last lime.

  6. Serve in deep bowls topped with a heap of pickled onion and coriander leaves, with plantain chips, popcorn and hot sauce on the side.

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