Encebollado Ecuatoriano

About This Recipe

Encebollado is the Ecuadorian coastal classic: a rich tomato-and-cumin broth thickened with yuca (cassava), studded with chunks of albacore tuna, and crowned with a generous tangle of red onions cured in lime juice and salt. Eaten across Ecuador from 7 am onward — and especially Sunday mornings after a long Saturday night — it is the country's most famous hangover cure. The crucial element is the onion topping: thinly sliced red onions massaged with salt to wilt them, then drenched in lime and tossed with cilantro until they smell almost floral. The combination of hot fragrant broth, soft yuca, meaty tuna, and zinging onion is intentional restoration in a bowl.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 600 gfresh albacore tuna steaks (or frozen)
• 1 tbspneutral oil
• 1white onion, diced
• 4 clovesgarlic, minced
• 4Roma tomatoes, blended smooth
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tspground annatto (achiote)
• 1.5 Lwater
• 500 gyuca (cassava), peeled and cut into 4 cm chunks
• 1.5 tspsalt
• 2 largered onions, very thinly sliced
• 1 tspsalt for curing
• 3limes, juiced
• 1tomato, diced
• 4 tbspfresh cilantro, chopped
• 1ají amarillo or fresno chili, sliced (optional)
• chifles (plantain chips) and popcorn to serve

Instructions

1. 1

   Cure onions

   Toss sliced red onions with 1 tsp salt; massage and let sit 10 minutes until limp. Rinse thoroughly to remove the harshness. Combine with lime juice, diced tomato, cilantro, and chili. Set aside while the soup cooks (the onions need at least 30 minutes to mellow).

   Properly cured onions taste sweet and floral, not pungent — the rinse step is essential.

2. 2

   Sauté refrito

   Heat oil. Sauté white onion 4 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, and annatto; bloom 1 minute. Stir in blended tomato; reduce 5 minutes until darker and pasty.

3. 3

   Add water and tuna

   Pour in water and salt. Bring to a simmer. Slip tuna steaks into the broth and poach 12 minutes.

4. 4

   Remove tuna

   Lift tuna out. Flake into bite-size chunks. Set aside.

5. 5

   Cook yuca

   Add yuca to the simmering broth. Cook 25–30 minutes until very tender and starting to fall apart. Mash some yuca pieces against the pot to thicken the broth slightly.

6. 6

   Return tuna

   Stir flaked tuna back in. Taste broth; adjust salt and lime. The soup should be deeply tomato-y, cumin-warm, and slightly thickened.

7. 7

   Serve

   Ladle into deep bowls. Top each generously with the cured onion mix and its juices. Serve chifles and popcorn on the side to crumble in as desired.

Variations

• •

  Encebollado de pescado: use any meaty white fish instead of tuna (mahi, marlin).

• •

  Spicy: blend an ají amarillo into the tomato base.

• •

  Add a peeled, halved hard-boiled egg per bowl in the Guayaquil style.

Storage

Refrigerate broth and tuna together up to 2 days. Make a fresh onion topping each time. Reheat broth gently — boiling toughens the tuna.

Frequently Asked Questions