How to Cook Fideua
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 5 mins
Cooking time: 75 mins
Ingredients needed to make fideua:
- 400 gms thick noodles
- 40 gms red shrimps
- 400 gms any white fish, preferably those with thick meat
- 200 gms prawns
- Large handful of mussels
- Large handful of clams
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 ripe tomatoes
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 4 saffron strands
- 1 liter fish soup (recipe below)
- Olive oil, for cooking
- Salt to taste
For the fish soup:
- 300 gms bone fish
- 1 onion
- 1 tomato
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/3 monkfish head
- Water, as required
Cooking instructions for fideua:
- To make the fish soup, add the fish bones as well as the monkfish head into a large stockpot.
- Add the tomatoes too, along with the onion as well as garlic and pour in about 3-4 liters of water until they are fully submerged.
- Bring the water to a boil and continue to do so for about half an hour; skim off any foam which appears on the surface during cooking the fish soup.
- Reduce the heat and continue to keep the soup warm until required to be used while cooking fideua.
- To make the fideua, drop the mussels into a pot of water and steam them until they snap open; discard the shells which don’t open up.
- Drizzle oil in a pan and wait until it heats up over moderate flame.
- Throw in the prawns, as well as the shrimps, and stir-fry them for about 3-4 minutes or until their flesh turns opaque but don’t brown.
- Transfer them to a plate lined with paper towel to soak away extra oil and set aside.
- Core the tomatoes and pulse them into a smooth puree in a blender.
- Pour more oil in the same pan and throw in the garlic.
- Saute them briefly and then mash them with the back of a spoon once they start to soften.
- Sprinkle a dash of cayenne pepper, followed by salt and stir them well together.
- Pour in the tomato puree, give it a nice stir to mix and continue to cook the mixture for about 5 minutes, while stirring often.
- Place the fish on the simmering sauce and cook for about 6 minutes.
- Flip it over and cook the other side for another 6 minutes.
- Transfer the fish to a plate and continue to simmer the sauce until it oozes out oil and becomes much darker in colour.
- Pour in the warm fish soup and bring the mixture to boil.
- Drop in the noodles sprinkle the saffron over them and season with a dash of salt.
- Stir them all together and add the clams; cook for about 5 minutes over high heat and return the fish to the sauce.
- Add the fried seafood, stir all of the ingredients together and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Bake the mixture in the oven for about 5 minutes at 200 degrees C until it dries up and turns golden.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 5 more minutes.
- Garnish with the steamed mussels and serve hot.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
