Piranha soup

• By Corinne Vella

In Malta, you can only buy piranha fish from dealers who specialize in tropical and exotic fish – at a very high price. We’re including this recipe just for fun, and in case you want to get rid of those bothersome piranha in your living-room tank.

Piranha soup is typical of the Pantanal region in Brazil’s remote south-western interior. The hot spicy dish is supposedly an aphrodisiac which, as the river people put it, can raise the dead. The fish are not particularly fussy about what hooks them. As bait, chopped up piranha is just as effective as minced monkey. They bite in seconds so even though the soup takes hours to cook, it usually starts with freshly caught fish that go from the river into the cooking-pot.

The malagueta chillis used in this recipe are a hot, very small variety that is native to Brazil. The red horn shaped ones that are easily available here are a suitable substitute.

For 1 person, you will need:

One large piranha or two small ones, one cup of good cooking-oil (olive is suitable), one onion (chopped), one clove of garlic (crushed), one small spoonful of ground black pepper, one malagueta chilli, salt to taste.

Gut and descale the piranha. Wash them out with water, then with vinegar. Heat the oil and fry the fish and other ingredients for a few minutes. (Keep the fish whole to make the bones easier to remove.) Top up with water, bring to the boil and then simmer for around three hours. The soup is ready when the ingredients appear to be dissolved. Strain the liquid and serve it in ceramic cups or in soup bowls with a freshly fried piranha floating in each one.