Ecuador's lavish Holy Week soup, a creamy gold cauldron of twelve grains and beans simmered with figleaf gourd, pumpkin and salt cod in milk. Eaten only around Easter, it is garnished with hard-boiled egg, fried plantain, fresh cheese and tiny cheese empanadas.
A Lenten dish from the Ecuadorian highlands whose twelve grains symbolize the apostles and the bacalao symbolizes Christ; its roots reach back to pre-Columbian equinox harvest offerings later Christianized after the Spanish conquest.
Spoon-coating and velvety, it tastes of toasted grain, sweet squash and gentle salt fish all at once, each legume keeping its own soft texture. The peanut and cheese give it a rich, almost chowder-like body, and the egg and plantain on top add bursts of sweetness and bite.
Slow simmering with constant stirring lets the starches from the many grains and squash break down and emulsify with the milk and peanut into a thick, cohesive body. Soaking the cod in milk first leaches excess salt while keeping the fish tender.
Variations
regional grain counts vary, some add rice or melloco, coastal versions lean richer with more peanut, some omit cod for shrimp
On the Palate
Where Fanesca sits in the Ecuadorian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 10
How it's made
7 steps · 2 hours
- 140 min
Soak the dried beans, lupini, fava beans, lentils and chochos separately overnight, then boil each until tender and reserve.
- 230 min
Soak salt cod in milk for at least two hours to draw out salt, then poach gently and flake, saving the milk.
Watch outSoak the salt cod in milk a good couple of hours to draw out the salt — skip this and the whole pot comes out too salty to save.
- 38 min
Make a refrito by sauteing onion, garlic, cumin and achiote in butter until fragrant.
- 412 min
Add grated figleaf gourd (sambo) and pumpkin (zapallo) to the refrito and cook until softened.
- 545 min
Stir in all the cooked grains and beans, the cod, the reserved milk and cream, then simmer gently, stirring constantly, until thick and unified.
Watch outSimmer low and stir constantly until the grains and squash melt into one thick, cohesive body — stop stirring and it catches and scorches on the bottom.
- 68 min
Add fresh peanut paste and crumbled cheese, season, and simmer a few more minutes so flavors marry.
- 77 min
Ladle into bowls and garnish with sliced hard-boiled egg, fried sweet plantain, fresh cheese, parsley and small cheese empanadas.
