Ceviche
Ceviche is the clearest example of cooking without heat: the acid in lime sets the proteins in fish much as heat would. There is one difference, and it is decisive — the process does not stop by itself. After several tens of minutes the fish turns dry and rubbery. The modern Peruvian school cures it for just a few minutes — here eight — and that is the whole recipe.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Sweet potato and corn 25 min
- Leche de tigre 10 min
- Curing 8 min
- Serving 5 min
Step by step
0 / 6 doneCook the sweet potato and corn first
Boil the sweet potato in its skin for 25 minutes and the corn separately, cool, and cut the sweet potato into thick slices. Do this first, because ceviche happens in eight minutes and there is no time for anything else. Everything must be waiting.
Ingredients: 400 g sweet potato · 200 g corn · 1 pcs red onion · ¼ bunch coriander
Soak the onion in iced water
Slice the onion into very thin slivers and cover with iced water for 10 minutes. The water rinses away the sharp sulphur compounds and the cold makes the onion crisp. Raw, it would dominate a delicate fish.
Ingredients: 400 g sweet potato · 200 g corn · 1 pcs red onion · ¼ bunch coriander
Cube the fish evenly and salt it
Cut the chilled fish into 2 cm cubes with a very sharp knife and toss with the salt. The salt seasons the fish before it meets the acid. A blunt knife crushes the fibres and the fish disintegrates in the marinade.
Ingredients: 600 g white fish · 1 tsp salt
Even 2 cm cubes, and the knife must be sharp.Blend the leche de tigre
Squeeze the limes by hand, not in an electric juicer: hard pressure on the skin releases bitter oils. Blitz the juice with the chilli, garlic, ginger, coriander stalks and two cubes of the fish — they give the marinade the milky colour behind its name. Strain it.
Ingredients: 8 pcs limes · 1 pcs chilli · 1 clove garlic · 10 g ginger · ¼ bunch coriander
Cloudy, milky marinade — hence tiger's milk.Cure for exactly eight minutes
Pour the marinade over the fish, stir and set a timer for 8 minutes. The cubes should turn white at the edges and stay translucent in the centre. Watch the time — the longer the fish sits in the acid, the firmer it gets, and after several tens of minutes it is dry and rubbery.
Ingredients: 600 g white fish · 1 tsp salt
White edges, centres still translucent.Plate it and serve at once
Drain the onion, fold it into the fish with the coriander leaves and turn out onto a plate. Arrange the sweet potato slices and corn alongside and serve within the minute. Ceviche does not wait and cannot be made ahead — the marinade keeps working on the plate.
Ingredients: 400 g sweet potato · 200 g corn · 1 pcs red onion · ¼ bunch coriander
Before you start
Raw fish safety
Lime juice cannot be relied on to kill bacteria or parasites, so the fish must be very fresh, sold as fit to eat raw, or frozen for at least 24 hours at −20 °C (right through). Buy from a supplier you trust and ask directly. Do not serve raw fish to pregnant women, young children, older people or anyone with weakened immunity.
Why sweet potato and corn
Both are sweet and mild and balance the acidity of the fish — they make a whole portion easy to finish. Not decoration, but the classic Peruvian accompaniments to ceviche.
Leche de tigre on the side
The remaining marinade is served in Peru in a small glass, to drink after the fish. It has a reputation as a hangover cure and is the best part of the dish — do not pour it away.
