We are enjoying the last bit of summer this week with temperatures of over 200C. The weather is just perfect for refreshing home-made shrimp ceviche on a tortilla for a light lunch; or eaten straight with spoon like I do, with a scoop of the marinade; for an amazing burst of flavours.
Ceviche has origins in Latin America. It is an ancient way of preparing raw fish or shellfish in the acidic juice of citrus fruits, typically lime and lemon. The juice denatures the protein which makes the flesh firmer and opaque; in the same way as cooking would. The addition of crunchy vegetables, onions and coriander makes the dish taste amazing.
I prefer to use frozen, cooked shrimp for my ceviche because it is quicker and convenient. I know I can feed it to my young children without any fears about them eating raw seafood.
Shrimp ceviche is easy to make and does not really require any prep apart from chopping and dicing. You can cut the cucumbers, peppers and onions a day before, but only dice the avocado when you are ready to toss into the citrus juices otherwise, it will start to brown. The ceviche is best eaten on the day it is prepared so the seafood and vegetables are still fresh.
I don’t like the lingering taste of raw onion; and this is one of the few recipes where I have used it. That is because the freshness and the crunch of the onions contribute to the eating experience of ceviche. What I did was to mellow it down, so as not to overpower other flavours.
How To Prepare Shrimp Ceviche
It is important to mellow down the onion, so it doesn’t overpower all the fresh flavours of the other ingredients. I did this by soaking the chopped onions in iced water with a pinch of salt for 10 mins. https://food52.com/blog/10536-how-to-mellow-garlic-and-onions shows a few methods of mellowing onions and garlic.
It is preferred for the prawns to be cut into smaller pieces instead of used as whole; so that the pieces can absorb all the fresh flavours; and the marinade should cover the ingredients so that all the wonderful flavours can be absorbed.
Enjoy your home-made ceviche on a tortilla, with tortilla chips; plantain chips, crackers or any flatbread really.
Shrimp Ceviche
Ingredients
- 250 g Shrimps cooked, peeled and frozen
- 2 Lemons juiced
- 3 Limes juiced
- 1 Orange juiced
- ½ Red onion finely chopped
- 1 Chilii pepper finely chopped
- 1 Red pepper diced
- ⅓ Cucumber diced
- 1 Beef tomato diced
- 1 Avocado diced
- 1 handful Fresh Coriander finely chopped
- Salt a pinch
Instructions
- Allow the shrimp to thaw then chop into 10mm length (roughly).
- Finely chop the onions and mellow it down using your preferred method.
- Chop the chilli pepper and coriander.
- Dice the red pepper, cucumber and avocado.
- Add all the ingredients in a bowl.
- Toss with the lime, lemon and orange juice along with the salt.
- Cover and allow to marinate for at least 1hr in the refrigerator.
- Enjoy
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