Hispanic Heritage · Paraguay

Asunción y el Centro

Asunción · Luque · San Lorenzo · Lambaré · Fernando de la Mora · Capiatá

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Sopa paraguaya

Descubre

Despite its name, sopa paraguaya is a savory corn bread. Onion, cheese, milk, and eggs give this Paraguayan dish a rich crumb, making it a useful introduction to a kitchen with many ways of cooking corn.

La Gente

Let the onions soften before combining the batter, and avoid drying the bake out in the oven. Cut into squares to serve beside a main dish or soup. Its name is a conversation starter; its texture is the reason to make it again.

Sabor

The center cooks mild, rich, and starchy. Corn, cassava, cheese, milk, egg, and beef fat do the flavor. Onion is the seasoning. Salt is the spice. Where a Paraguayan cook reaches for the cupboard, it is for the soup pot: garlic, oregano, cumin, bay, a little color, and the herbs of the yerba garden.

Spice DNA · Sweet low · Herb medium · Smoke low · Heat none · Acid none

Seasonings to explore

Minced Garlic in Olive Oil. In the vori vori broth. Adds a savory garlic base.
Oregano, whole. In the broth and, in some houses, a pinch in the sopa.
Cumin, ground. In the broth. Lightly.
Black Pepper, ground. In the broth.
Bay leaves, whole. In the broth.
Sazón with Coriander and Annatto. For the color the countryside gets from urucú.
Onion Powder. With the fresh onion in the sopa.

Badia does not sell the queso Paraguay.

Cocina

Sopa paraguaya

Corn bread with cheese and onion, baked until gold. The national dish of Paraguay, which is not a soup, and which every Paraguayan will explain.

Serves 8

½ cup beef fat, lard, or butter
2 large onions, finely chopped
½ tsp Badia Onion Powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups milk
4 eggs
2 cups fresh cheese, crumbled
2½ cups fine white cornmeal
Pinch of Badia Oregano, whole, optional

The onion. Melt the fat over low heat. Cook the onions with the onion powder and salt slowly, 15 to 20 minutes, until soft, sweet, and not browned. Cool slightly.
The batter. Beat the eggs with the milk. Stir in the cheese and the cooked onion with its fat. Add the cornmeal a little at a time, stirring, until it is a thick batter that falls slowly from a spoon. Oregano if using.
Bake. Pour into a greased baking dish an inch and a half deep. 375°F, 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is golden and a knife comes out clean.
Cool 15 minutes. Cut in squares. Serve beside the asado, or with a cup of tereré the next morning.

Vori vori de gallina

Chicken soup with corn and cheese dumplings. The other Sunday.

Simmer a whole chicken in 12 cups of water with 2 tbsp Badia Minced Garlic in Olive Oil, a chopped onion, a chopped carrot, 2 Badia Bay Leaves, 1 tsp Badia Oregano, ½ tsp Badia Cumin, ½ tsp Badia Black Pepper, 1 tsp Badia Sazón with Coriander and Annatto, and salt, for an hour, until tender. Lift out the chicken and shred it. Make the dumplings: 1 cup fine cornmeal, 1 cup crumbled fresh cheese, 1 egg, a spoon of beef fat, and enough hot broth to make a dough; roll into balls the size of a walnut. Drop them into the simmering broth and cook 15 minutes until they float and firm up. Return the chicken. Parsley over the top. Bread beside it. The name means little balls, twice, because Guaraní says things twice when it means them.

Pueblos del Centro

Asunción · Luque · San Lorenzo · Lambaré · Fernando de la Mora · Capiatá · Areguá · Itauguá · Caacupé · Piribebuy · Paraguarí · Yaguarón · Villarrica · Coronel Oviedo · Coronel Bogado · Carapeguá · Ypacaraí