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I live in Costa Rica and we live and die by Ceviche.

I have found a few recipes but it just didn't come out right. But then again, this country is full of sweet lemons (that are green . . .quite confusing when looking for limes) and lemons that are orange. Very confusing for me.

I made it a few times and the fish ended up mushy. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

It's probably your fish. Cube it instead of cutting thin strips (use strips only when making a tiradito style ceviche). Regarding the fish, lenguado and corvina hold up pretty good for ceviche. Also, keep the fish out of the limon until you're ready to serve. Here in Lima, if it's in the limon more than 5 minutes, it gets thrown out.

the trick is to toss in 2 tbls of gingerale. no, i am not kidding. this little trick comes froms my friends tica abuella.

I'm dying to try Peruvian ceviche. It sounds completely different than the Mexican type I know and love, and which is supposed to be kind of "mushy".


Mexican ceviche (Baja CA style)

This is *party size*, but can be reduced.

5 kg. white fish. snapper or tillapia are best. coarsely chopped.
juice of about 40 small Mexican limes.
3 large tomatoes chopped.
10-15 fresh jalapeno chilies finely chopped.
2-3 large white onions finely chopped.
1-2 bunches cilantro, chopped.
salt.
1/2 to 3/4 cup clamato juice.

In a large plastic bowl, mix the fish, lime juice and 1 tablespoon of salt. Knead well. There needs to be enough lime juice so that when you mash the fish down in the bowl, there is a "lake" of juice on the top. Add more if necessary.

Put it in the fridge for 1 hr.

Meanwhile chop up the other stuff.

After 1 hr, tilt the bowl and with your hand, squeeze out as much of the juice from the fish as possible. You should get 1/2 to 2/3 of what you put in.

Now, just mix all the other ingredients in and adjust the salt to taste.

Usually served on small crisp corn tortillas (tostadas) with a spritz of hot chili sauce on top.

Some good stuff.

I will be sure to let you know how it all turns out.

Thanks!!

Sharyn

I was up on the northern coast of Peru this last weekend, a place famous for ceviche, and had an extremely delicious version at a friend’s house. Here is how he made it:

- In a bowl, squeeze a few dozen fresh limes
- Add a few dashes of salt to taste
- Finely dice a twig of fresh ginger and add to lime juice, stir
- Cut razor thin slices of raw aji limo (looks like a red jalapeño, but can substitute another FLAVORFUL chili pepper) and add to lime juice, stir
- Dice cilantro and add to lime juice

- Wash fresh Corvina filets in tap water immediately before cutting (not before)
- Cube fish in pieces approx 2 cm square (cut with the grain)
- Put cubed fish in serving dish and ladle lime juice mixture over fish
- Serve immediately

Here in Peru, the left over fish-flavored lime juice, after all the fish is consumed, is poured off the plate in to a shot glass. Drink straight or mixed with pisco. Locally referred to as Tiger’s Milk.

Heresy! You are all freely exchanging ceviche recipes! Several latin women are currently rolling in their graves as their recipes are bantered about on the internet all willy-nilly!

The whole point of any good ceviche recipe is to keep it a secret and to lord that secret over friends and loved ones for the whole of one's life.

I'm ashamed of all of you.

Limes are the key ingredient for ceviche...not lemons - wrong type of acid.

Did you ever get your ceviche to work?

If not, try and keep the flavors simple at the start. Lime juice, chile, salt, pepper. Build up from there with the cilantro, ginger, other citruses and other flavors.

I've never mashed my fish down - that's new for me! In the Pacific we just cube the fish and season it.

Limes and onions go in at the end, or else they make it taste funky.

The ginger ale sounds like a cool addition. I need to try that.

Other styles: Poke in Hawai`i is served with various combinations of soy, chiles, onions, sesame seeds, limu (seaweed), kimchee paste, kukui (candlenut, I think), roe, and wasabi.

Oka in Samoa is coconut milk, sometimes mayonnaise to thicken it (which is yummy!), and vegetables like shredded carrots, red peppers, tomatoes, or cucumbers. I did a deluxe version with avocado, a very garlicky aioli, fresh squeezed ginger juice, lime, and coconut milk that came out really well.

quote:

I've never mashed my fish down - that's new for me!

I've only seen it in Baja California, Mexico and real Mexican restaurants in SoCal where I've eaten about 80% of my ceviche. Come to think of it though, my friends from Juarez make it the same way. I think it is because they tend to use soft-fleshed fish which don't lend well to cubing. It ends up roughly the same texture as tuna salad, and is plenty tasty.

I've had various cubed types too which were excellent. Octopus ceviche is one of my favorites.

That seems a very good recipe , thanks for sharing .