Ecuadorian fish soup {Biche or viche de pescado}
This soup is called biche de pescado, also known viche de pescado, and is a typical soup of the province of Manabí, but is served all over the coastal region of Ecuador. It has been quite some time since I’ve had this delicious fish soup, it’s very thick, almost a stew, and the contrast of flavors is amazing: fish, yuca or cassava, sweet plantains, sweet corn, peanut, onions, garlic, spices, and cilantro.
Preparing this soup brought back so many memories, especially when I got to the point where I could start smelling the final result it (and even more as I tasted it). It’s one of those soups that is so good and comforting. If you’ve ever had it before you’ll remember the taste just by thinking of it or looking at a picture of it. If you never had it before, try it, you will not be disappointed, it will become one of your favorites.
Ecuadorian biche or viche fish soup
Ingredients
Fish and peanut broth
- ½ – ¾ lb fish heads and bones or use a small whole fish
- 8 cups + 2-4 cups water adjust based on how thick you want the soup
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup peanuts lightly toasted
- 2 tbs sunflower oil
- 1 cup chopped red onion
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 4 garlic cloves crushed
- Salt to taste
Fish soup
- 2 lbs white fish fillets halibut, monkfish, ling cod, sea bass, etc, cut in medium sized pieces
- 2 tbs butter or oil
- 2 cups chopped red onion about 1 whole onion
- 6 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 bell pepper diced, about 1 cup
- 1 tbs dried oregano
- ½ tbs ground cumin
- 1 tsp achiote or annatto powder
- 2 tbs plain peanut butter unsweetened
- 1 ½ lb yuca or cassava peeled and quartered, fresh or frozen
- 2 very ripe plantains the ones that are starting to get black, sliced in about 10 rounds per plantains
- 2 corn ears cut into 6-8 small rounds per ear of corn
- 2-3 finely chopped cilantro or parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste
To serve:
- Lime slices
- Hot sauce
Instructions
Fish and peanut broth
- Bring 8 cups of lightly salted water to boil, add the fish heads, bones and other pieces, boil for about 30 minutes or until the pieces begin to come apart, strain the broth.
- Heat the 2 tbs of oil over medium heat to prepare a quick refrito, add the onions, garlic, cumin and salt, cook until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes.
- Blend the lightly toasted peanuts with the refrito, the milk, and 2 cups of the fish broth, blend until smooth.
- Strain the peanut, milk, refrito and broth mixture and mix with the remaining fish broth plus 2-4 cups of cold water.
Fish soup
- Heat the 2 tbs of oil over medium heat; add the chopped onions, garlic, pepper, achiote powder, cumin, oregano, salt, and cook over low heat until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes.
- Add the fish peanut broth and bring to a gentle boil.
- Add the corn, the yuca and the 2 tbs of peanut butter. Simmer for about 35-40 minutes or until the yuca is cooked.
- Add the plantain slices and the fish chunks, cook on low heat until the fish is cooked, about 8-10 minutes.
- Sprinkle with the chopped cilantro and serve warm with lime slices.
There is something about soups in Ecuador, we take them very seriously, probably because we eat them almost every day, when I go to a restaurant in Ecuador it isn’t a questions of whether to have soup but which soup to have, but anywhere else (US, Europe) that I’ve been unless there’s a strong recommendation for the soup I usually don’t order soup, even at home I need to eat soup at least once a week.
Additional vegetables, such as squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, and other types of beans, are sometimes added to this fish soup. For a summer soup I prefer it a little bit lighter and am not adding more than the essential sweet plantains, yuca, and corn. Biche de pescado can also be made with shrimp (biche de camaron) instead of fish or a mixed version that includes shrimp and fish, they’re all very good.
The soup is prepared using a quick homemade seafood broth, which is usually made with fish heads, unfortunately I arrived at the fish market at little bit early –and apparently the best time to find fish heads is after 3pm – so instead of making the broth with fish heads and bones, I bought a small ¾ lb trout, cut in a few pieces and used it to make the broth. You can also substitute with store bought seafood stock or just use plain water instead.
Most of my dishes always have a few side dishes, but this is one of this really simple ones, lime or lemon slices are a must have, and hot sauce is optional, I like it with hot sauce, but my husband thought the soup was so good and the flavor was perfect that it didn’t need hot sauce, I took this a compliment since it came from a guy who doesn’t really like peanuts that much and is a huge hot sauce consumer.
Step by step preparation photos for Ecuadorian biche or viche fish soup:
Other Latin American fish soups you might enjoy:
Dominican Fish Soup recipe
Mexican Caldo de Pescado Fish Soup recipe
Hoy pesque 3 silver salmon! asi que lo voy a intentar y te cuento como quedo.
Solo espero (pequeno milagro) que tengan maduros en el Safeway!
Gracias denuevo… =)
Laylita,
soy de la costa de Ecuador pero ahora vivo en Alaska.
Tu crees que el biche salga bueno con Salmon?
Es lo unico que encuentro aqui! Salmon y Halibut.
Gracias por hacer una pagina tan increible! Mi esposo te agradece por que gracias a ti, cocino mas seguido! =)
Hola Priscilla – Preparalo con Halibut (el halibut es sea bass, igual que la corvina). Aunque tambien creo que quedara rico con salmon aunque no lo he intentado.
Let’s ignore the soup. Let’s ignore the memories.
What a novel way to present the basics and fine details to a recipe.
Fantastic job.
[my story is i emailed the link today to my quito/cuencan wife and i have just spent the most enjoyable day in recent to mid memory [my kids are 15/16 :)]
So; before I even finish preparing this wonderful dish I say thank you.
If I mess it up it is certainly; only, my fault.
Congratulations on a great concept. [webpage; i know you did not invent the soup :) ]
djw
canada
Wow!! I’m so excited to make this soup, all of your other receipes remind me of my visits to Ecuador and my family’s cooking. I hope I can use these to remind my family of our great memories, thank you so much! Now I can make it myself and not have to drag everyone to the Ecuadorian Resturants!!
Ummm que rico, se puede substituir la leche de vaca por leche de coco o soya tambien!!!
You can also substitute cow’s milk for coconut milk or even soy milk!!!
This is an amazing soup. I am from central america… but have a lot of ecuadorian friends. I learned how to make it and can never get sick of it . Give it a try !
Thank you so much for these recipes! I only jotted down the recipe for this biche when I left Ecuador and who knows where that is…? Thanks!
Awesome soup! Its perfect as is, but I’m now itching to take a Thai spin on this… some fresh green curry paste for the dry spices and coconut milk for the cows milk. I’ll have to give it some thought… I don’t want to take out too much I kinda want a East/West blend.
I did this soup yesterday and tasted delicious!! It was funny, when my husband saw the soup he was like: “I’ve told you I don’t like bouillabaisse soup!” And this soup has for sure nothing to do with it… anyway he loved it as much as I did, even though the taste was kind of sweet since sweet corn is the only one you find here in Austria… I’ll leave that out next time…
qué rico por Dios! Sabes que entré a tu block buscando inspiración para maniana, y la encontré jeje tengo que hacer esta sopa Layli, me encanta!