06/06/2020
Aliendres, A.

Hello Hiveans

After spending 22 hours in a sensational queue to fill up the vehicle, whose tank has a capacity of 40 liters; the authorities imposed that I should only add 30 liters to the tank. My God, give me strength! It was my expression when I was handing over the money to cancel the fuel. It was 11:30 p.m. Venezuelan Local Time (HLV), at 1:30 p.m. HLV was going to be 24 hours in this odyssey. Physically and mentally I felt exhausted. 😅

So I threw in the towel of regret and set about replenishing my energy, planning with my husband @ulisesfl17 to make a fresh fish soup in the oriental style. In my town they call it sancocho and in some places it is known as boiled; however, it is the same drunk with a different hangover. 🤣 My husband is a planner and teacher, among his teaching strategies he makes the analogy that making a project is like making a soup, because you have to list everything that is required (ingredients), consider where and when you will get them, time, human and economic resources; then think about and complete each stage.

It was planned to buy the fish, vegetables and seasonings at the Hypermarket. Once in the place we went to the fish shop where there was a variety of fishes of marine and river origin; the selection was not very discussed because @ulisesfl17 and my person likes the sweet aquatic species, so we ordered Coporo (Prochilodus mariae), there were big specimens and we agreed to take these.

Fresh crabs and shrimp garnished with slices of red pepper and lemon

Entering the supermarket drained the tension and I felt liberated from the marathon process that I lived to refuel; I took advantage for a selfie with a view to the fish and seafood display.

Selfie in fish shop

The left side photo was taken with iPhone 6 Plus, while the right side was taken with an LG K20.

Let's get to work

Once the purchase was made, we had to get down to work to enjoy the preparation of this delicious dish typical of my town. Chinese ocumo, yucca, yam, green cambur and the fabulous white ocumo (ocumo criollo) that gives a spectacular touch to this sancocho.

@ulisesfl17 took care of peeling and washing the vegetables, while I arranged the fish.

The pot was placed with about 3 liters of water and pieces of yam and white ocumo were added to cook them before adding the rest of the vegetables. What we seek with this is to give viscosity proportional to the water that will become broth, once we add the dressings.

Four edges, topocho, sunví, babano, cambur verde and scientifically called Musa paradisíaca; this is the special one to make a good sancocho of fresh or salted fish, in this case Coporo. The beautiful cluster in front of my in-laws' house, contributed in a great way with my gastronomic whim.

One of the best things I find in fish soup is its practical and quick preparation; arrange the fish, do the cooking of the vegetables with the seasonings and once the vegetables are soft or edible, add the fish protein and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

After this time it is ready to be served because the fish protein is easy to cook. Lemon is as important as garlic in this dish, it is fundamental that these ingredients are present when preparing a fish soup with all the irons as we say in Carúpano - Venezuela..

So much for my soup.

Resource 📸

Mobile device iPhone 6 plus and LG K20. Horizontal photos dimensioned at 960 x 720 pixels and selfie at 385 x 513 pixels to maintain visual quality. No filters or level effect applied for contrast.

_{This post is a translation of the original version published in HIVE}