Encebollado

Ingredients

• 700g albacore tuna or bonito steaks
• 800g yuca (cassava), fresh or frozen
• 2 large red onions
• 5 ripe tomatoes
• 1 green pepper
• 5 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp achiote (annatto) powder
• 1.5 litres water
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 8 limes
• 1 large bunch coriander
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 100g chifles (plantain chips), to serve
• Hot sauce, to serve

Before you cook

• Peel the yuca, split it lengthways and pull out the woody central cord, then cut it into 5cm lengths
• Peel one red onion and slice it as thinly as you can into half moons
• Peel and quarter the second red onion
• Roughly chop 3 of the tomatoes and dice the other 2 finely
• Deseed and roughly chop the green pepper
• Juice 6 of the limes and cut the remaining 2 into wedges
• Separate the coriander into stalks and leaves

Steps

1. Put the thinly sliced onion in a bowl, cover it with boiling water for 20 seconds, then drain it.
2. Toss the drained onion with half the lime juice, the diced tomato, a big pinch of salt and half the chopped coriander leaves, then leave this curtido to macerate.
3. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan over medium heat and add the achiote powder.
4. Stir in the quartered onion, chopped tomato, green pepper, garlic and coriander stalks and cook for 10 minutes, until softened.
5. Add the cumin, oregano and 2 teaspoons of salt and cook for 2 minutes more.
6. Pour in the water and bring it to a simmer.
7. Lower in the tuna steaks and poach them gently for 12 minutes, until they flake at the edge.
8. Lift the fish out onto a plate and let it cool a little.
9. Blend the broth and its vegetables until smooth, then pass it back into the pan through a sieve.
10. Add the yuca to the broth and simmer for 25 minutes, until it is tender and starting to split.
11. Flake the tuna into large chunks, discarding any dark bloodline, and return it to the pan.
12. Stir in the rest of the lime juice and taste the broth, which should be sour, salty and heavy with cumin.
13. Ladle the soup into deep bowls, giving everyone plenty of yuca.
14. Heap a generous tangle of the onion curtido on top of each bowl.
15. Scatter over the remaining coriander leaves and a handful of chifles.
16. Serve with lime wedges and hot sauce on the table.