Sopa Paraguaya (Paraguayan Cornbread)

About This Recipe

Sopa paraguaya is the great joke of South American naming: it is a soup that is in fact a cake. The story goes back to the 19th century and the kitchen of Don Carlos Antonio López, then president of Paraguay, whose Spanish cook accidentally added too much corn flour to the soup she was making and, rather than waste it, baked the thick batter in a hot iron oven. The result was a moist, dense, golden bread that everyone preferred to the original soup, and the name stuck. The dish is now one of two Paraguayan national pastries (along with chipa, the cheese bread). It is constructed around four ingredients that define Paraguayan cooking: white cornmeal (harina de maíz blanca, never yellow), generous quantities of queso Paraguay — a fresh white cow's-milk cheese similar to queso fresco — sweated white onion (always sweated in lard or butter until very soft, never raw), and whole eggs. Milk binds everything. The result, baked in a wide tray, is a dense, deeply yellow square cut into thick slices, with a crust that crisps slightly at the edges and a centre that is tender, salty-savoury, faintly sweet from corn, and threaded with melted pockets of cheese. It is served warm alongside almost any Paraguayan main — most especially with grilled meats (asado) at Sunday gatherings, with the great Paraguayan soup-stew puchero, and with bori-bori dumpling soup. A slice with a cup of mate cocido at breakfast or with tereré on a hot afternoon is one of the simple, perfect pleasures of asunceño daily life.

Ingredients

Serves 9

• 2 largewhite onions, finely chopped
• 100 gpork lard or unsalted butter (lard is traditional and richer)
• 400 gwhite cornmeal (harina de maíz blanca)(must be white; yellow gives wrong flavour and colour)
• 350 gqueso Paraguay or queso fresco, crumbled(feta works in a pinch but is saltier — reduce added salt)
• 4 largeeggs, at room temperature, separated
• 400 mlwhole milk, warmed slightly
• 1 tspfine sea salt plus 1 tbsp neutral oil (for greasing the pan)
• extra cheese crumbles and a knob of lard (for the surface)

Instructions

1. 1

   Sweat the onions

   Heat oven to 190°C / 375°F. In a wide skillet, melt the lard or butter over medium-low heat. Add the chopped onions and a pinch of salt and cook very gently 12–15 minutes, stirring frequently, until completely soft, translucent and just beginning to turn golden — never browned. This deep sweating is the soul of the dish.

   Rushing the onions over high heat gives a sharper, less sweet result; low and slow is essential.

2. 2

   Cool the onion mixture

   Scrape onions plus all their cooking fat into a large mixing bowl. Let cool 10 minutes — must not be hot when eggs are added or they will scramble.

3. 3

   Mix the wet ingredients

   Whisk the egg yolks lightly and stir into the onion mixture along with the warmed milk and the crumbled cheese. Mix well — the cheese should be in distinct crumbles, not a paste.

4. 4

   Add the cornmeal

   Sprinkle the cornmeal and 1 tsp salt over the wet mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined — the batter will be very thick, like a stiff cake batter. Do not over-mix.

5. 5

   Whip and fold the egg whites

   In a clean dry bowl, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt to soft peaks — not stiff. Fold one-third into the cornmeal batter to loosen, then fold in the remainder gently, keeping as much air as possible. The whites are what stops sopa paraguaya being a brick.

   Soft peaks fold cleanly; stiff peaks break apart and lose air.

6. 6

   Bake

   Generously grease a 23 cm square baking dish (or 28 cm round) with lard or butter. Scrape in the batter, smooth the top with a spatula, scatter extra crumbles of cheese on top, and dot with a few small knobs of lard. Bake on the middle rack 40–50 minutes until the top is golden-brown, the edges have pulled away from the pan, and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs only.

7. 7

   Rest and serve

   Cool in the pan 10 minutes before cutting into 9 generous squares. Serve warm as a side with grilled meats, soups or stews. The bread should be moist and tender in the centre, faintly crusty at the edges, with visible specks of cheese and sweated onion throughout.

Variations

• •

  Sopa so'o — add 200 g finely chopped cooked ground beef to the batter for a heartier Sunday version.

• •

  Chipa guazú — replace cornmeal with grated fresh sweet corn kernels for a totally different summer cousin.

• •

  With anise — add 1 tsp anise seed to the batter for a southern Paraguayan twist.

• •

  Mini sopa paraguaya — bake in muffin tins for 22 minutes for individual portions ideal for parties.

Storage

Refrigerate, covered, up to 4 days; reheat slices in a 180°C / 360°F oven 8 minutes (microwave makes it gummy). Freezes well 2 months — wrap individual slices tightly. Defrost overnight in fridge before reheating.

Frequently Asked Questions