Mexican-inspired ceviche made with cob

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ceviche

I could describe this ceviche as zesty or crunchy, or I could say it might be Mexican-inspired, but instead, I’m just going to call it ceviche. My version of a delicious ceviche filled with flavours and texture that I love. Cob is a firm-white flesh fish and when its sustainably sourced it makes perfect ceviche.

cerviche

ceviche

ceviche

I did tons of research, including this brilliant article on Food 52 and asked friends to recommend their favourite, but in the end, all I really wanted to do was try and recreate a ceviche like the one that I often eat at my favourite Mexican restaurant El Burro.

My research yielded a variety of versions and lengths of time you need to soak the fish in the citrus when making ceviche. Some recipes suggested leaving it for an hour or two, while others let it languish in the marinade overnight. Nic, One of the owners of El Burro hinted at using less lime than you think you should – you don’t want to overpower it, and dress it just before serving.

So I took all of this in, got into my kitchen with my selection of herbs and vegetables and sort of mixed and tasted, mixed and tasted until I got to a place where I was super happy with my recipe. I urge you to do the same. There are no rules. You can mix and match the citrus and use grapefruit, lemon or orange instead. Change the vegetables, add more or less.

A few guidelines I followed was to work on a ratio of 50:50 – fish to other ingredients (volume). I used only enough lime to coat and start ‘cooking’ the fish, it really doesn’t need to swim in the juice, and I ate it straight away. It also needs a fair amount of sea salt, so I added a good few pinches of Maldon to the mix, and I didn’t add pepper, as I wanted to keep the flavours clean and let the chilli do the job of adding the heat. The other important factor to creating a good ceviche is to use a really fresh and sustainable fish as your base.

*cooks notes ~ I don’t like the flavour of raw red onion and find it a little abrasive in a ceviche so I lightly pickled my slices of red onion in red wine vinegar for about 2 hours before. You could also use spring onions as these are milder. I prefer the flavour of pickled jalapeno chillies to raw, but you can use a fresh chilli if you prefer. I added the avocado as a garnish at the end, as I didn’t want it to break up into a mush in the ceviche. I prefer to use the smaller Israeli cucumber (pickling cucumbers) as these are more crunchy and have fewer watery seeds.

This was utterly delicious and I kept some leftovers for the following day it was equally as delicious after a night in the fridge. You could make this just before or in advance.

It needs a delectable drink to go with it, and the perfect Paloma or margarita does the trick.

You might also like my delicious Peruvian ceviche

Ceviche

Print Recipe
ceviche
Prep Time:15 minutes
Total Time:15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 400 g firm white fish filleted and skin removed
  • 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
  • 1-2 Tbsp finely chopped coriander/cilantro
  • 3 - 4 Tbsp finely chopped pickled red onion see cooks notes
  • 6 Tbsp finely chopped Israeli cucumbers
  • 2 Tbsp finely chopped pickled jalapeno chilli
  • 1 large Roma tomato de-seeded and finely chopped
  • sea salt flakes to season a good few pinches
  • 1/2 avocado chopped up for the topping
  • additional coriander to garnish
  • corn chips to serve

Instructions

  • Cut the fish into small pieces and place them in a bowl.
  • Stir in the lime juice and then add all the other ingredients, mixing and tasting as you go.
  • Dish up in serving bowls, top with chopped avo and fresh coriander / cilantro leaves and serve with corn chips.
Servings: 2 - 4 servings as a snack or starter
Author: Sam Linsell

 

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16 Comments

  1. Hi Sam, this looks amazing. I love the idea of pickling the onion first. What brand of corn chip did you use, I’m battling to find one I like?

  2. Hi Julie, I love the Mexicorn corn chips which you can find in most Spar’s. They come in different flavours, but I love original for this.

  3. Thanks Daniela, I ate it all over 2 days. At least it is such a guilt free meal.

  4. Thanks Lily, and its so healthy, we should all be eating it all the time. Its going to be my go-to this summer.

  5. Meg Pascoe says:

    Thanks for the post, Sammy. I really want to test it out with the Kob now too!

    x

  6. I like the fact that you keep it simple to let the fish shine. I never tried pickled onions and jalapeños but it sounds like a great idea. Love your pictures too.

  7. Thanks Cecilia, I really didn’t want to drown the fish in lime juice and other strong flavors, especially since it was simply so delicious on its own.

  8. Love your blog. Using pickled onions adds another great level of flavour. You could also try slicing the red onion thinly, then soaking the slices in a bowl of ice water for 10 minutes before drying, then chopping finely (or to taste). It removes the harsh bite, keeps the crunch, and mellows the onion beautifully.

  9. Fabulous ideas Helena, thanks 🙂

  10. Any recommendations for a replacement for the Kob if we can’t get hold of any?

  11. Hi Leon, any good firm white fish is good. Angelfish is also nice, very reasonable and sustainable.

  12. look at peru ceviche its the best

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