I’m celebrating the next to last official weekend of Summer with one of my warm weather favorites: Ceviche! What’s not to love about a delicious light yet satisfying dish that cooks itself in lime juice while chilling in the fridge in under 30 minutes?
I love eating this stuff as often as I can, but Summer is when I especially crave it. I’ve ordered many in restaurants that I’ve loved and a few that I’ve not loved as much. The big difference for me was FLAVOR and some versions that I ordered tasted a little flat and under seasoned. I love big flavors in my ceviche that stand up to that punch of tart lime juice along with lots of tasty mix ins and the goal for me in recreating my own at-home version was to create a recipe that delivered what is for me the perfect combo-basically an avocado salsa meets ceviche. So I throw plenty of fresh avocado in my version along with the usual tasty suspects of diced onion and garlic, tomato, cilantro, sazon, salt and pepper. To make this dish even more adaptable for everyone’s eating style I’ve also cooked up a vegan version using grilled tofu that I love as much as the classic seafood version so you can ceviche your way!
Which version are you ready to dive bomb those chips into? Make sure you have a mojito or margarita on hand to wash it down! A Watermelon Mojito will fit the bill nicely…get the recipe here!
Makes: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
Inactive Cooking Time: Approximately 25 minutes
Ingredients:
Seafood Version:
For the Fish and Marinade:
- 3/4 pound firm white fresh wild caught fish, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces- Make Sure it’s Fresh Wild Caught Fish Not Farm Raised! (It is important to use only the freshest fish and not use farm raised fish as the bacteria in farm raised fish will not cook out with the citric acid. Fresh fish should smell like the ocean, not fishy. If it smells fishy- DO NOT USE IT FOR CEVICHE!)
- 2/3 cup fresh squeezed lime juice-Must be fresh squeezed right at the time you’re going to use it for the acid to cook the fish properly. (I learned the hard way that juicing the limes far ahead of time will NOT work.)
- 1 tablespoon agave
- 2 teaspoons salt
For the Ceviche Mixture:
- 2 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
- 1 avocado, pitted, flesh scooped and chopped into chunks
- 1/3 cup red onion, minced
- 3 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and minced
- 1/2 or 1 while jalapeno, seeds and membrane removed and diced, or a pinch of cayenne pepper, optional
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2/3 cup frozen regular or roasted corn kernels, optional (I love using Trader Joe’s fire roasted frozen corn when short on time-defrost first!)
- Olive oil, drizzling
- 1 teaspoon Goya sazon
- 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- Tortilla chips or toasted tortilla wedges for serving
Directions:
Add chopped fresh fish pieces into a large non-reactive baking dish or container a couple inches deep and wide enough so that the fish can spread out evenly along the bottom.
Mix the agave and salt into the fresh lime juice. Chop the fresh fish into 1/2 inch pieces and scatter evenly on the bottom of the dish. Pour the lime juice mixture over the fish and let it sit in the fridge for about 15 minutes while you prep the rest of the ingredients. At 15 minutes the fish should turn from translucent to mostly white and will finish cooking through in the last 10 minutes after the rest of the ingredients have been added. If you would like the fish to be slightly more medium rare reduce the fridge time by about five minutes or so that the flesh remains semi translucent.
While the fish is cooking in the lime juice mixture, combine the rest of the ingredients, avocado through pepper, to add to the ceviche.
After the 15 minutes are up and/or when the fish appears mostly cooked through, add the rest of the veggie mixture and stir well. Return the ceviche to the fridge and let it sit another 10 minutes (or less of you prefer more of the ahi style ceviche.)
Remove from the fridge, spoon into dishes and serve with plenty of chips and your beverage of choice! May I suggest the Watermelon Mojito mentioned above?
For Tofu Version:
For the Tofu Marinade:
- Substitute 1 block drained and pressed firm tofu for the fish
- Reduce fresh squeezed lime juice to 1/3 cup
- Reduce agave syrup to 1/2 tablespoon
- 2 teaspoons sea salt or kosher salt
For the Ceviche Mixture-
- 2 Roma Tomatoes, chopped
- 1 avocado, pitted, flesh scooped and cut in chunks
- 1/3 cup red onion, minced
- 3 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and minced
- 1/2 or 1 while jalapeno, seeds and membrane removed and diced, or a pinch of cayenne pepper, optional
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2/3 cup defrosted frozen roasted corn kernels, optional (I like Trader Joe’s)
- Olive oil, drizzling
- 1 teaspoon Goya sazon
- 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- Tortilla chips or toasted tortilla wedges for serving
Directions:
Slice drained and pressed tofu into six equal slices, approximately half inch thick. Place the slices in a shallow container wide enough so that the tofu slices can sit evenly along the bottom.
Mix the fresh lime juice, agave and salt and pour over the tofu slices. Turn the tofu slices Uber so each side gets coated thoroughly in the lime juice mixture. Let sit in the fridge approximately 15 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients that will be added to the ceviche.
Prepare the filling ingredients combining avocado through pepper in a dish and mix well.
Preheat grill to medium high. Remove tofu slices, shaking off excess liquid. Place on grill and cook a few minutes per side until you have nice grill marks. Remove, let cool slightly and chop into small cubes.
Once the cubes have cooled completely, add them to the rest of the combined ingredients, stirring to incorporate the mixture.
Spoon into dishes and serve with chips and serve the same way as the seafood version! With plenty of chips and sips!
Goes just perfectly with this Watermelon Mojito…get the recipe here!
Enjoy this recipe or have questions? Feel free to leave a comment!
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