Wish you a happy Sunday! 😁

Easter time is special in many ways. In my case, and among other things, I enjoy preparing traditional sweet and savory dishes for my family. I already shared two recipes for sweet dishes: sweet coconut rice pudding and coconut cornmeal mush. Now it's time for one of all time favorites: Fish cuajado. It's a thick and juicy omelet that we prepare basically with well seasoned fish stew seasoned (flavored and colored) with achiote oil, fried or boiled ripe plantain, and egg. It's an omelet or a flourless pie if you prefer, since it's made on a plantain and egg base. For this, we can use school shark, dogfish or bull ray. I used bull ray (which is known as chucho in Venezuela).

Perhaps you've heard that Cumana is a land of poets, and I love this, but Cumana is also a land of fishermen.

For many years, fish has been the salvation of so many Cumaneses who have suffered the onslaught of national politics, pests, the economic crisis of 2016 and 2017 and lately, the pandemic.

I grew up loving fish dishes and I confess to being crazy about the different soups prepared in my region. And although I usually use small fish in my cooking, I don't fail to prepare cuajado every year, at least once at Easter.

Traditionally, cuajado refers to margariteña cuisine (of Margarita Island, north of Cumana), but here in my hometown, we also have a strong tradition of preparing it, and as often happens with this type of dishes (as with hallacas, or rice & chicken), everyone has their own way of giving it their personal touch while keeping it typical.

I usually add olives, but this time I didn't have any, and it was too hot to ride my bike to the super--our car is being repaired and I have not yet learned to ride my husband's old motorcycle 🙈 Anyway, my family would eat this so quickly that none of them would notice the olives were missing 😁

INGREDIENTS

In my region (East of Venezuela), we call aliño (seasoning) to all the vegetables that are cooked to flavor any meal; basically, it's onion, sweet chili pepper and garlic, but you can add spring onion, bell pepper and other vegetables depending on the taste of the dish and the taste of the cook/family. Below you can see what I use for fish cuajado.

• 1 kg bull ray, chucho (the piece you see on the right is 2 kg)

I removed the skin and cooked it all but only used half of it. The rest is kept in the fridge until I use it again.

• 3 cups chopped onion

• 1 cup chopped (red, green & yellow) bell pepper

• 1 cup chopped sweet chili peppers

• 1 cup chopped spring onion

• 1 cup fresh parsley, chopped

• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

• 1/4 cup capers

• 1/2 cup raisins

• 4 tablespoons freshly minced garlic

• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

• 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 3-4 bay leaves

• 3-4 medium size ripe plantain

• 8 eggs (M)

• 1/4 cup annatto oil

• 1 tablespoon dry oregano

• salt and pepper to taste

• some cheese to sprinkle on top (I used pecorino)

• enough oil to sautee the vegetables and fry the plantain slices.

The annatto oil I used today was made last December for hallacas. I made it with annatto seeds and corn oil. You can check it out by clicking on the blue link.

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Screen capture from my post, Dec. 28, 2023

THE PROCESS

FISH

First of all, I washed the piece of bull ray under the tap. Then I removed the skin and most of the dark parts with a knife, then cut it into chunks and put them in a pot with water, a little salt, and a bay leaf. 2 kg of fish took 30 minutes to cook over medium fire. I strained it and it was ready tu use. I saved half of the fish for other dishes (probably more cuajado or empanadas 😁).

After the fish was cool, I shredded with my hands.

VEGETABLES

I wash all the vegetables and then I chop and sautee according to the recipe.

I sauteed the chopped onion along with oregano and a couple of bay leaves.

Next, I removed the pedicels, veins, and seeds from the bell peppers and sweet chili peppers, chopped them and added them to the cooking pot.

When these vegetables were tender, I chopped and added the spring onion and parsley, plus the minced garlic.

As soon as I added the last part of the vegetables, I added the tomato paste and 1/2 cup of water. I would've liked to have white wine instead, but I didn't have any. I also added the raisins and capers.

Lemon juice would provide freshness (as well as the cilantro, which I would add right in the end).

I added salt and checked that it was enough.

THE FINISHED STEW

I added the fish and the annatto oil.

I let it simmer for 5 minutes, turn off the fire, and added the chopped cilantro for extra freshness. It was time to take the bay leaves out of the stew before I forgot.

The stew was done. I put the lid on the wok and let it cool. The fish would absorb the juices, which makes it easier for the cook to get the firmness needed for cuajado.

BEAT THE EGGS!

I beat the egg whites until almost stiff. Then added the yolks, salt and pepper.

I added 1/4 to the fish stew and mixed well...

I sliced and fried the planatins...

...and then it was time to put the cuajado together.

Without greasing the mold, I placed a layer of fried banana slices, then a layer of beaten egg, then a layer of the fish stew with egg. Then I repeated the process.

I sprinkled with cheese and then it was ready to go into the oven.

It was baking for 45 minutes at 300° F.

TIME TO EAT 😋

I served it with mashed potatoes as it is our tradition. I also added some bread and a little leftover salad.

As always, I hope you've found this post useful.

I enjoy these typical dishes even when they take some work. Cuajado is one of my favorite Venezuelan dishes.

How about you?

Any favorite typical dishes that make you work but that you feel are worth the effort?

Bon appetite!

All text and images are my own. I have taken the pictures with my Redmi 9T cell phone. And if any GIFs here, I've used GIPHY for all them.

Thank you so much for your visit :)

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