Encebollado: Ecuadorian tuna and onion soup
Ecuador’s national breakfast and its best-known hangover cure. A clear tuna broth with yuca, under a heap of sharp pickled onion.
- Region
- The Coast, especially Guayaquil
- Type
- Soup, eaten for breakfast
- Serves
- 4
- Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
What it is
Encebollado takes its name from cebolla, onion, and the onion is the point. A gently spiced fish broth with soft yuca and flakes of albacore tuna is finished with red onion pickled in lime. The contrast between the warm broth and the cold, sharp onion is what makes it.
In Guayaquil it is eaten from early morning until lunch, from street carts, market stalls and restaurants that open only for it. Families argue about who makes the best one in the city. On the table it comes with chifles, popcorn or bread to dunk, extra lime and ají.
Cooking it in the UK
Albacore is the traditional tuna, but any fresh tuna loin works, and good tinned tuna in olive oil is what many Ecuadorians abroad actually use. Fresh yuca is sold in Latin, African and Asian grocers; frozen yuca is easier to find and already peeled. Take out the fibrous string running through the middle once it is cooked.
Encebollado recipe
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 500g fresh tuna loin (or two 160g tins of tuna in olive oil, drained)
- 600g yuca, fresh or frozen, peeled
- 1 onion, halved
- 2 tomatoes, halved
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground annatto
- A bunch of coriander, stalks and leaves separated
- 1.5 litres water
- Salt
- For the onion topping: 2 red onions very thinly sliced, juice of 3 limes, 1 tomato finely diced, chopped coriander leaves
- To serve: chifles or popcorn, lime wedges, ají
Method
- Make the topping first. Salt the sliced red onion, leave for 10 minutes, rinse, then mix with the lime juice, diced tomato and coriander.
- Put the onion, tomatoes, garlic, cumin, annatto and coriander stalks in a large pan with the water and a teaspoon of salt. Simmer for 20 minutes.
- If using fresh tuna, poach it in the broth for 8 to 10 minutes until just cooked. Lift it out and flake it.
- Add the yuca to the broth and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes until tender. Lift it out, remove the woody core and cut into bite-sized pieces.
- Strain the broth, blending in the soft onion and tomato for body if you like. Return the yuca and tuna and heat through.
- Serve in deep bowls topped with a big spoonful of the onion, with chifles or popcorn, lime and ají on the side.
What you’ll need
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