Sea bass ceviche, make it yourself!

Can you ever eat too much ceviche? This Peruvian dish is one of my absolute favorites. During our trip through beautiful Peru I have tasted almost every variant. I would like to share my recipe with you.

What is ceviche?

The main ingredient of ceviche is raw fish, cut into small cubes. The fish is marinated in lemon or lime juice. For ceviche, choose a firm white fish, such as cod or sea bass. But I also tasted variations in Peru with seafood and mollusks such as shrimp, crab or cockles.

Chulpe en cancha

What else do you use in ceviche? Red onion, chili pepper, sweet potato and corn. For the corn, you need to do some research because you don't use the standard corn from the supermarket. In Peru, they use chulpe. That type of corn is roasted with a little oil and salt. It is then called cancha. Chulpe grows mainly in the Valle Sagrado region. You can easily order the corn online. This also applies to the ajì amarillo peppers you need for ceviche.

Leche de tigre, essential for ceviche

But truly essential to ceviche is leche de tigre or tiger milk. At the end of the meal, you drink that tangy marinade of lemon or lime juice. It totally makes your ceviche whole.

Recipe of sea bass ceviche

Ingredients

With these ingredients, you will have enough ceviche for 4 people. For the tiger milk, you will need a blender.

For the leche de tigre:

1 fresh chili pepper (preferably ajì amarillo or yellow Peruvian pepper)
1 cm fresh ginger
Juice of 4 limes
½ branch green celery

For the ceviche:

400 g sea bass fillet without skin
½ sweet potato
½ red onion
1 fresh chili pepper (preferably ajì amarillo or yellow Peruvian pepper)
1 star anise
½ bunch fresh cilantro
40 g chulpe corn kernels
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Freshly ground pepper and sea salt
Some flower petals

You can order fresh ajì amarillo peppers at shop.westlandpeppers.com. Tip: Buy your peppers in bulk. They freeze easily and can be used in different sauces or dishes.

Step 1: tiger milk

First, roughly chop the chili and celery. Then grate the ginger and squeeze the limes. Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix on high speed.

Pour the marinade through a fine sieve and refrigerate.
Step 2: the toppings

First, use a mandolin to cut the onion into very fine slices. Also finely chop the chili pepper and cilantro.

Then peel and cut the sweet potato into small cubes. Cook the diced sweet potatoes along with the star anise until tender.

Time for the cancha snack. Heat the oil in a small pan and roast the chulpe corn kernels. This corn does not pop open like popcorn but it jumps up. Sprinkle some salt on top, and let it cool.
Step 3: making ceviche

Over to the sea bass. Cut the fish into small cubes. For ceviche, the pieces should not be too large, but there should still have some bite. Season with pepper and sea salt. Now pour the tiger milk over the sea bass. Leave the fish in the fridge to marinate for about 5 to 10 minutes.
Step 4: finishing

Finally, divide the fish with the tiger milk between 4 plates or small glass bowls. Arrange the other ingredients on top and finish off the dish with cilantro and flower petals.