Cebiche

Published on 06/04/2011 | In Peru en | By Monica |

Let’s go with one of our most classic dishes: delicious Cebiche.

What can we peruvians say about cebiche that you haven’t heard already? That we love it, that (for us) ours is the best, that no lemon compares to ours, our fish, our land, our climate… our chillis or “ajíes” and our people.

Spain has to be thanked indeed. Without the lemon seed they brought that grew in our land with its unique properties, and without onions cebiche would not exist. or ceviche. or seviche.

The thing is, yesterday (even though this pictures and recipe were taken a few weeks ago when I invited friends home for cebiche) my great friend Diego Salazar (a great gastronomy journalist and passionate about food and cooking) and me taught a cebiche course to a group of american students here in Madrid. It was, undoubtedly, the best excuse for me to wake up early and start preparing and cooking the sweet potatoes, peruvian corn, andean popcorn (canchita serrana), pack up knives and bowls, go to market, buy some fish, lemon (some peruvian I still had, which was great), onion, chillis (ajíes), ginger root, coriander and go to the course.

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Cebiche in Perú, and for us peruvians abroad, matches perfectly with sunlight, friends and very cold beer. So now that the sun is coming out there is no better reason to have it. And now that in Lima the sun is fading out, no better way to say good-bye.

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Ingredients

2 kilos of perc or any white fresh fish with wide fillets. Always keep it cold. Very important.
2 big red onions cut lengthwise (see picture) very fine
1 piece of ginger root peeled, the size of a dice.
2 aji limos (see picture above) with no seeds and finely chopped. Wash hands thouroughly after chopping. Save a slice.
2 tablespoons of fresh coriandes finely chopped.
20-30 peruvian lemons. If you don't have (whish is usual for me) buy both limes and lemons (14 and 7 for instance).
Ice
2 glass bowls (or 3 if you want to make a ceviche less spicy than the other)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Side-dishes:
2 sweet potatoes cooked in water with its skin and a tablespoon of brown sugar
2 corns of thick grain (see picture) cooked in water with a tablespoon of brown sugar
Andean popcorn: buy "maíz mote" in any latin store (where you can find the corn and chilli as well). Fry like popcorn with oil and add salt afterwards.

Instructions

Have the lemons cut into half and ready for use.
Cut the fish with a very sharp fish knife into squares of about 1 1/2 cm.
Place the fish in a glass bowl together with the onion and wash carefully twice with very cold water.
Spread the ginger piece and chilli piece all over the walls of another glass bowl. Leave both pieces there.
Add the fish and onions and about 6 cubes of ice (washed in water to avoid it from getting stuck to the fish and damaging it).
Add salt, pepper and the chopped "ají" limo.
Start taking the juice of the lemons (with hands) very carfeully and avoiding that any seeds will come out. If they do, take them out they can damage the taste. Only take out the juice of half the lemons to prevent it from souring the mixture as well.
With your hands move the mixture carefully and keep taking out more juice of the lemons. Once you see the fish starts to change colour, about 2-5 minutes (will depend on the lemon) taste the salt.
Add the coriander. Take out the ginger root and chilli slice.
Serve with the corn, andean popcorn and sweet potatoes.
If you'd like to make one spicier than the other just divide everything into two bowls and add less chopped chilli to one.
If you have any doubts about where to buy the ingredients, anywhere (specially Madrid) just ask me I'll be very happy to help and give you data. And if you'd like a special summer day with friends and willing to take a course the same thing! You only need to ask me and Diego would be glad to repeat any day!
Enjoy the cebiche, the cold beer and friends!