A 1922 Recipe: Fish Torta

My cousin in Minneapolis asked me to buy this coffee table book for her which also contains period recipes.

I browsed through it to find an interesting recipe that I could try. I found lots! The problem was most of it were in Spanish. My college Spanish was not good enough to translate the recipes. I found this recipe for fish torta (fish omelet) which I decided to try.

1 big fish, about 1 kilo
4 tomatoes, sliced
2 eggs
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cm. fresh ginger
1 small onion, sliced
4 tbsp. lard
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Clean the fish. Boil in water to which the ginger has been added. When the fish is done, remove it from the water and take out the bones. Heat the lard in a frying pan. Fry the garlic and the onion. Stir in the tomatoes, the fish, the salt and the peppers. Remove from the fire and cool. Beat the eggs and add them to the mixture. Mix thoroughly. Place a piece of banana leaf in the frying pan in which there is a little fat. Saute the mixture by tablespoonfuls, browning both sides. Serve hot.

The recipe would have been too much for just two of us so I halved it. I used cream dory fillet about 500 grams. I added 5 pcs. chillies, chopped because P has to eat spicy food always. I skipped boiling the fish in water with the ginger. I simply sauteed it along with the onions, tomatoes, garlic using butter instead of lard. It turned out great and I ate too much for dinner.