How to Make a Ceviche: Ceviche Recipes

Cerviche is a dish that is often confused with sushi, though it actually does not have much in common besides fresh seafood. Since Cerviche is cooked in a citrus marinade, those not familiar with the dish assume that the seafood is raw. It took me a while to eat it because no matter how it was explained it sounded raw to me. Later, when I got up the courage to eat it I recognized the taste and realized I had eaten and liked it when I just thought it was a shrimp cocktail.

There is no standard recipe for Cerviche as it varies by location and is easily changed. Cerviche is a popular dish from South America to Mexico and is also known as Kinilaw in the Philippines. The ingredients vary by location and tastes, but the common denominator is the citrus marinade that cooks the food. Cooking the food is accomplished by the citric acid that denatures the proteins in the seafood.

I didn't learn about Cerviche in Peru or Ecuador, I learned about it on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The traditional Mexican restaurants in Texas often serve it in a milkshake glass as a popular appetizer. The Mexican Cerviche is a combination of lime juice, shrimp, cilantro, avocado, onions, tomatoes and peppers that are diced. Though that is an excellent version, my favorite is the less traditional version I learned on the boats of the Gulf.

Having spent many days on various boats I learned that there are many ways to make Cerviche. When I was running charter boats it was a popular treat on hot afternoons offshore in the Texas sun. On a day fishing trip most of the ingredients can be prepared beforehand and placed in a ziploc bag in one of the coolers. The only remaining ingredient is the fish which would be the first one we caught in the morning. The first fish be it snapper, grouper or dorado would be cubed and put in the ziploc to be ready by lunch.

On a rocking center console fishing boat with no cooking facilities Cerviche is a treat unlike the usual sandwiches and vienna sausages. For the same reasons the dish made it on to the sailboats I made my later and more extended voyages on. It seemed as though if one had a boat of any kind in my parts they had a Cerviche variation, and many captains take pride in their recipe. So my take on it has more influence from the fishing and sailing captains than the actual origin.

I still make Cerviche when at sea, but I find myself making it more on land now as it is healthy and tasty. I have never made it off of a recipe and have somewhat general guidelines as the ingredients change with the people. My Cerviche becomes a colorful and diverse mix of vegetables and seafood, and with so many different tastes it is easy for someone to find something they like and go around the rest.

Though I have used fishes such as tuna, dorado, grouper and snapper, my favorite is a mix of crabmeat and shrimp. I will usually use about two pounds of seafood to start the dish. Since the citrus will cook the dish it works better the smaller the chunks of seafood. Small shrimp work better than 15-20 count shrimp and 1/2 inch cubes are good for fish. My marinade is primarily fresh squeezed lime juice with a few lemons mixed in.

With seafood and citrus juice basic Cerviche is made, but the good part is all the vegetables that are added in. I put the traditional chopped onion, cilantro and tomatoes in then kick it up a notch. This is achieved by adding bell peppers of all colors, banana and jalapeno peppers, black and green olives, celery and carrots, and garlic which are all chopped in different ways into small pieces. Salt, black pepper, avocados and a few capers finish it off and start the Cerviche on it's way to being done in three to four hours.

The good thing about Cerviche is the longer it marinates in a cooler or refrigerator the better it gets. The seafood and vegetable flavors mix with the lime juice and create some light and wonderful flavors. During the cooking process the juice loses it's acidity and takes on a milder and easily drinkable quality. When in the hot sun on a boat it becomes particularly refreshing.

Though my exposure to Cerviche began on boats, don't think it is limited to boats. Cerviche is a light, healthy treat in which the possibilities are only limited by the imagination.