Sopa paraguaya
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Sopa paraguaya may sound paradoxical, but actually it's a rare case of "solid soup" (the word "soup" always implies the presence of a liquid element, generally a cooking broth) and takes a fundamental role in Paraguayan cooking.
According the rigorous Paraguayan folklore investigator, Margarita Miró Ibars, the "sopa paraguaya" "is the product of Guaraní-Spanish syncretism. The Guaraníes used to consume doughy food made of corn or manioc flour, wrapped in güembe or banana leaves and cooked between hot ashes. The Spanish introduced usage of cheese, eggs and milk, which were added to the food made by the Guaraníes..." It is a spongy salad cake and also, as every good Paraguayan gastronomy teacher knows, very rich in caloric and protein content.
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[edit] History and origin of the name
The most accurate and most credible historical fact has Don Carlos Antonio Lopez (according to Paraguayan historians, the founder of the Paraguayan State, governor of his country between 1841 and 1862) and one of his cooks (called "machú" in Guarani language) as main characters.
It is told that the great governor, a really obese man, liked the "tykuetî" or white soup elaborated with milk, Paraguay cheese (fresh cheese), egg and corn flour.
One day, on an involuntary mistake, the machú put too much corn flour to the mixture. Near the noon, she found herself with two problems: first, that wasn’t the base mixture for the tykuetî; and second, she didn't have time to start over the process, or replace the favorite dish with another. So, showing off a decided attitude, a mix of fear and wit, she poured the mixture on an iron container and cooked it in the "tatakua" (the Guarani word for "hole of fire", a rustic oven made of clay and adobe), from which she obtained a solid soup. Don Carlos, after tasting it, found it very delicious and immediately named it "sopa paraguaya".
In some places it is also called "Paraguay Soup".
[edit] Ingredients
To make a traditional sopa paraguaya, you would need ingredients such as onion, water, thick salt, pork fat, eggs, fresh cheese, corn flour, curd or fresh milk, and milk cream.
Other varieties, such as "sopa paraguaya de estancia" use almost the same ingredients, only varying the quantities so they could make the mixture more or less consistent and more or less greasy, according to taste.
[edit] Preparation
The traditional sopa paraguaya preparation follows these steps: The onion is sliced in thin pieces and boiled in salt water about 10 minutes in a sauce pan. Then let cool down.
The pork fat is whipped and the eggs are added one by one, continuing the whipping. The crumbled cheese is then added.
The onions with the boiled water are added to the mixture, also adding slowly the corn flour, alternating with the milk and the cream. All is mixed smoothly and the preparation obtained it's poured in a greased (with butter or oil) container to be baked in a hot oven (200 degrees Celsius) for about an hour.
[edit] Interesting facts
The sopa paraguaya can not be missing in any "asado" (social meetings where diverse cuts of grilled cow meat, pork and sausages are eaten, the Paraguayan version of the American barbecue), at the days of the Semana Santa (Holy Week), especially at the viernes santos (Holy Fridays), and also at weddings. There's always a recurrent question that is made to the couples that still together after many years: "¿Cuándo comemos la sopa?" (When will we eat the soup?)
References
- “Tembi’u Paraguay” Josefina Velilla de Aquino
- “Karú rekó – Antropología culinaria paraguaya”, Margarita Miró Ibars
