Being that I am originally from Peru a staple dish that never fails to remind me of home has to be ceviche. Ceviche is a seafood dish typically made with a raw white fish and lime juice base. ceviche is central to Peruvian cuisine and unique because it is a raw dish that is cured/cooked by leaving the fish in the lime juice for about an hour or so. I mostly enjoy ceviche for its refreshing and tangy taste. The best way I can describe it is citrusy Poke like dish with accompanying flavors of sweet potato, Peruvian choclo (giant corn), and fresh herbs. As a kid I spent many summers in Peru, where my family would go to this beach called Punta Hermosa. All the kids would spend hours swimming and playing in the ocean, until we were exhausted, and we’d come running back up the beach to bask in the hot sun. Towards the end of the day my family would always order this huge dish of ceviche that could be brought out to us at the beach. Ceviche is a very sharable dish, being that it is usually brought out in a big bowl that is placed in the center of the table and everyone uses their own forks to eat from the bowl. This method of serving and eating the dish always brought everyone together and has left me with some really great memories of that time in my childhood.
I’ve inserted a photo of my mother and I, because i have a very large family and unfortunately I don’t have a photo that includes everyone. I have also inserted a photo of where I would spend my summers in Punta Hermosa, Peru.
After researching I found that ceviche resembled a very ancient dish that had been eaten in Peru up to 2,000 years ago around the civilization of the Moche. Its origin is widely debated but it is central to Latin America, particularly in the Andes region. It is most commonly consumed in Peru, Ecuador, and Chile but they are all different. Ceviche also has roots in Spain from a region called Granda, that may have originated during the time of colonization. Japanese-Peruvian chefs have also helped develop ceviche to what it is today and have combined traditional Japanese styles of cooking Sashimi in the preparations of ceviche. In particular there has been a fusion of ceviche and sushi, this blend of cultures has resulted in traditional sushi rolls with ceviche in the them (it’s delicious if you ever have the chance to try it). Currently, ceviche has become widely popular and has made its way into many restaurant’s around the globe.
Recipe:
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds very fresh and high quality fish filets (corvina, halibut, escolar, hamachi, mahi-mahi)
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice, from about 35- 40 key limes, or 15-20 Peruvian limes
- 1-2 habanero peppers, cut in half, without seeds and deveined
- 2-3 sprigs of fresh cilantro
- Salt to taste
- Finely chopped cilantro to taste
Instructions
- Cut the fish into small cubes, place in a glass bowl and cover with cold water and 1 tablespoon of salt, cover and refrigerate while you prepare the onions and juice the limes.
- Rub the thin onion slices with 1/2 tablespoon of salt and rinse in cold water.
- Rinse the fish to remove the salt
- Place the cubes of fish, half of the sliced onions, and hot peppers in a glass bowl and pour the lime juice over the ingredients. Sprinkle with a little bit of salt. To minimize the acidity of the limes you can put a few ice cubes in the mix.
- Cover and refrigerate for about 5-15 minutes.
- Remove the cilantro sprigs and the hot peppers from the mix. Taste the fish ceviche and add additional salt if needed.
- Use a spoon to place the ceviche in each serving bowl, add additional sliced onions to each bowl, sprinkle with finely chopped cilantro, and diced or sliced hot peppers.
- Serve immediately with your choice of sides and garnishes.
This website is where I found a recipe and where I got my images of ceviche from.
https://www.laylita.com/recipes/peruvian-fish-cebiche-or-ceviche/
This website is where I got the image of Punta Hermosa from:
https://sites.google.com/site/teamsurfperux/blog/surf-in-punta-hermosa—lima
Francesca, thank you for sharing this delicious looking dish with us. I enjoyed reading about your wonderful childhood memories on the beach of Punta Hermosa, where you and your family would consume a huge bowl of ceviche together after a day’s swim and rest. It definitely sounds like an ideal end to a full day’s fun with your family and friends. No wonder you would consider ceviche one of your favorite dishes! The research paragraph is very helpful as you give us an overview of the history of this dish. It’s good to know that some contemporary versions of the dish have something to do with Sashimi as well. In general you’ve responded to the journal prompt fairly well, but there are a few areas I believe you could do better. The first is why ceviche is “central to Peruvian cuisine” or “to Latin America”–is it because the fish used in the dish is regional only to Peru or Latin America? How did the dish come into being in the beginning, prepared with choclo and sweet potato? I’m sure your research has generated some interesting discoveries! I also hope you could reflect more upon the significance of the dish, in relation to your culture and identity. Ceviche is a “sharable” dish and always reminds you of the fun time you had along the beach–but perhaps you could talk about why “sharing” and beach time are so important to you, and why other holidays and communal meal (e.g. pizza) would not be the same.