FILHOTE FISH WITH TUCUPÍ AND TAPIOCA

INGREDIENTS (to serve 4)

200 gr tapioca balls
50 ml lime juice
200 ml perfumed tucupí
100 ml fish fumet
Chilli pepper
Chicory from Pará
Fresh basil
Jambú (Amazon watercress)
Blanched and frozen
20 gr bacon flour
100 gr cassava flour
450 gr de filhote fish, in cubes
Salt
black pepper and oil
Perfumed tucupí:
5 l tucupí (fermented cassava broth)
5 cloves garlic crushed
2 sprigs coriander
200 gr. jambú
Chili pepper
Bacon flour:
1 kg bacon
30 ml oil

PREPARATION

Perfumed tucupí
Place all the ingredients in a pan and cook over a low heat for approximately 40 minutes. Strain and leave to cool. Bacon flour: Choose a lean piece of bacon. Cut into small pieces and fry gently, with a drop of oil, until browned but not burnt. Drain and cut very finely then remove any excess oil with absorbent paper. Leave wrapped in paper for 12 hours. Crush in the blender until a flour is obtained. Press between two sheets of paper again to remove any fat. Cook the tapioca balls in boiling water until soft and white at the centre. Drain and refresh in cold water. Drain. Add the lime juice and leave to macerate for 15 minutes. Heat the perfumed tucupí with the fish fumet in the same proportions together with the herbs and pepper. Strain and add a little tucupí stock to the tapioca. Set aside. Mix the bacon flour with the cassava flour. Season the cubes of fish and coat one side of the cubes with the flour mixture, pressing it on well to make a firm crust. Heat a non-stick pan with a drop of oil. Fry the cubes on the floured side until brown, then fry the other sides. Finish in a medium-hot oven (180º C) for 5 minutes.

TO SERVE

Place the cubes of fish with the crust side up, To one side, place the tapioca and the tucupí.