Encocado de Pescado (and fresh coconut milk!)

By Sonia Gregor

The first time I ate Encocado, I was bowled over by the complex flavor of its thin orange sauce, covering tender pieces of seafood. How did they put so much flavor in that liquid? It’s one of those dishes where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, so that you can hardly tell what ingredients they started with. Luckily, all the ingredients are fairly accessible basic things, provided you can get your hands on a coconut or some coconut milk.

The name Encocado means “cooked in coconut”, and this dish can be made with any kind of fresh seafood – fish, shrimp, squid, crab, clams, you name it.  It originated on the Pacific coast of Ecuador and Colombia, where coconuts and fresh seafood are plentiful. This region owes cultural influences to the large population of African slaves who were brought to work on plantations in the tropical lowlands (or in the case of Esmeraldas freed slaves from a ship that ran aground on the Ecuadorian coast). The  Pacific coast cuisine, often featuring coconut or peanuts, have earned devotees throughout Ecuador and Colombia.

Aside from the eponymous coconut milk, this sauce contains onions, peppers, garlic, lime, orange, and ginger. All the ingredients are simmered together and then strained, producing a watery liquid that packs a huge amount of flavor. The closest comparison might be a mild Thai curry if you added oranges and extra onion. Like most delicious dishes from the coast, Encocado is traditionally served with rice and patacones, green plantains that are smashed flat and fried.

The best Encocado I’ve had was in Esmeraldas province, Ecuador. The chef was a tall Afro-Ecuadorean man who had cooked for years in restaurants, and to feed road crews as they worked. In trying to reproduce this flavor, I studied the recipes on these three sites: Las Recetas de Laylita My Colombian Recipes and Gusto Latino. None of them include ginger, but that was one of the highlights of my memory, so I went ahead and put some in the sauce. Likewise, my memories of Encocado do not include tomatoes, but two of these recipes suggest adding them, so feel free to play around with it.

A few more recipe notes:

We used filets of white fish for this version, but encocado is often made with other kinds of seafood, or a mix of seafood. Shrimp or other decapods (crabs, lobsters) are especially good. Just make sure the pieces are small enough that they will cook in the simmering sauce, or else pre-cook them a bit.

Making coconut milk from a fresh coconut is a time-consuming process. If you have access to canned coconut milk, I would not judge you for using it. On the other hand, if you want to get really old school, get some ridged clam shells. Apparently the people of the coast used to grate the flesh of the coconut using clam shells. You can also take the middle road by making it from dried grated coconut.

Recipe for Encocado de Pescado

You will need:

1 coconut (or 1 can of coconut milk)

1-2 lbs of filleted white fish (or other seafood)

juice of 2 oranges

juice of 2 limes

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp paprika or Aleppo pepper

4 cloves of garlic, smashed

2 tbs oil

2 large onions, diced

2-3 red bell peppers, diced

1 tbs grated ginger

salt to taste

Garnish with diced cilantro and lime wedges

Serve with rice and patacones – fried plantains (recipe coming soon!)

Homemade Coconut Milk

If you have a can of coconut milk in the pantry, you’re all set. If like us, you are in Ecuador, canned coconut milk is rare and expensive, but fresh coconuts are plentiful.  Here is how to make milk from fresh coconuts: (Do make sure to select a brown cooking coconut and not a green ‘coco de agua,’ which have little flesh)

1. Heat the coconut on a stove until it cracks. This will be a little smokey, so try to remove most of the loose fiber on the outside of the coconut.
2. Once the coconut has cracked, hold it over a bowl and stab it in an “eye,” the soft holes on its underside  so the coconut water can drain.
3.  Use a hammer to break the coconut, and remove the white flesh inside. Do this by wedging a knife between the flesh and the shell and peeling pieces off. Unless your grater is a champ you will want to peel the brown skin still stuck to the underside of the coconut flesh before the next step.
4. Grate the coconut flesh. Put it in a blender, and cover with warm water. If you can, let it sit for 20 min as this will soften the coconut, making it easier to blend.
5.  Blend the coconut and water. Blend it lots. Then pour into a strainer.
6. Squeeze the coconut pulp in the strainer. Don’t let any of that creamy coconut juice go to waste. We usually use our hands, but cheesecloth would probably be neater. You can even pour a little hot water over the pulp and squeeze it again.

Encocado de Pescado

Marinate the fish

Mix the orange and lime juice in a medium-sized bowl. Add the smashed garlic and the ground cumin, coriander, and paprika.

Slice the fish up into 1 or 2 inch pieces and toss them in the juice to marinate. Leave to marinate at least 30 min in the fridge.

Make the sauce

Fry the onions in the oil until they are translucent and golden in color. Add the diced bell peppers and half of the grated ginger.

After a few minutes, pour in the coconut milk. Let this heat up and simmer – the sauce should take on an appealing orange color.

Add the second half of the grated ginger and the fish. Turn the fish in the sauce to coat it, then cover the pan so that the fish will cook.

Check on it after 5 min. Cut one of the larger chunks of fish in half to see if it’s cooked in the middle.

The minute it’s cooked, turn off the heat. Ladle the Encocado into bowls and garnish with some cilantro and/or lime juice. Serve with rice and patacones.