onioned Tuna Soup

I first tasted this soup at La Canoa, a restaurant in Guayaquil, Ecuador. They
prepared the tuna in the popular style of leaving it mostly rare, then they
added it to the soup right before serving. When we serve the soup at the
Patria, we use all the meaty trimmings from the tuna steaks we’ve
served as full portions.

Serves 6.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 pound yuca, peeled, cored, and cut into 1 1/2- to 2-inch lengths
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 white onion, diced (about 1 cup)
  • 4 plum tomatoes, diced
  • 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 gallon fish stock
  • 1 1/2 pounds tuna, cut into 2-inch pieces
  • 5 sprigs parsley, coarsely chopped
  • 1 bunch cilantro, leaves coarsely chopped
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 red onion, thinly sliced
  • 6 limes, quartered
  • corn nuts

    DIRECTIONS

    Place the yuca in a large stockpot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil,
    then decrease the heat and simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Remove from the
    heat and let cool in the water.
    Heat the oil in a separate stockpot over high heat. Add the onion and half
    of the tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes. Add the garlic and stock, and bring
    to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the tuna
    and yuca and cook for 5 minutes.
    Stir in the parsley and cilantro and season to taste with salt and pepper.
    Immediately ladle the soup into bowls. Float some of the red onion slices on
    the surface of each soup, and top with the remaining diced tomatoes. Squeeze
    lime juice over the onions and sprinkle the corn nuts over the onions and
    tomatoes. Serve with the remaining lime wedges on the side.