Destination
Arequipa
The story
Ceviche is Peru's national dish and the country's most-photographed plate: cubes of firm white fish (corvina, lenguado, sole) tossed with fresh lime juice, thin-sliced red onion, chopped ají amarillo (Peruvian yellow chile), chopped coriander and salt, left to cure for just a few minutes until the fish turns opaque and the citrus soaks in, then served on a chilled plate with slices of boiled sweet potato, kernels of large-format choclo corn and a sprig of crispy corn nuts (cancha) on the side. The lime-onion-chili juice pooled at the bottom of the plate is called leche de tigre — tiger's milk — and eaters drink it after the fish is gone. It's the definition of Peruvian food.
Method
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the sweet potato rounds and cook 12 to 15 minutes until tender when pierced. Lift out. Add the corn cobs to the same water; boil 10 minutes. Lift out, cool briefly, and cut each cob into 4 chunks. Cool the sweet potato completely and refrigerate.
Slice the red onion as thinly as possible (a mandoline helps). Rinse in cold water 30 seconds, then drain and pat dry. This removes the raw bite while keeping the crunch.
Trim any bloodline or sinew from the fish. Cut into 2cm cubes. The pieces should be uniform so they cure at the same rate. Season with 1 tsp fine salt and toss.
In a large glass bowl, combine the fresh lime juice, chopped ají amarillo, chopped ají limo, garlic, ginger, half the coriander (chopped) and the 2 tsp salt. Whisk briefly.
Tip the cubed fish into the lime mixture. Fold gently with a large spoon so every piece is coated. Add the rinsed onion. Fold once more.
Let sit at cool room temperature for 2 to 3 minutes for a rare-centred modern ceviche, or 5 to 8 minutes for the traditional fuller-cured version. The fish should turn opaque on the outside but stay slightly translucent in the middle for the modern style.
Line 4 chilled plates with lettuce leaves. Divide the ceviche between the plates, spooning fish, onion and plenty of leche de tigre onto each. Arrange 2 or 3 slices of cold sweet potato and 2 chunks of corn beside each portion.
Scatter each plate with cancha (corn nuts), extra sliced red onion, whole coriander leaves and slices of ají limo for those who want more heat. Serve immediately with a lime wedge on the side. Eaters spoon fish, drink the leche de tigre, and cool with the sweet potato and corn between bites.
Tips
- Fresh fish only. Non-negotiable. Ask for sushi-grade at a fish market — if the fishmonger looks confused, walk away. Cheap or frozen fish gives you rubbery, cured-through cubes.
- Fresh lime juice. Squeeze the day of. Bottled lime juice tastes flat and acidic in the wrong way. Twelve small limes give you about 180ml.
- Short cure. Modern Peruvian ceviche is 2 to 3 minutes; traditional is up to 8. Anything longer and the fish is chalky. The eater's first bite should still be slightly rare in the centre.
- Rinse the onion. Thirty seconds in cold water removes the raw sulfur bite while keeping the crunch. Not optional.
- Serve immediately on cold plates. Ceviche does not hold. Prep everything, cure at the last minute, plate and serve.
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Whole scarlet rocoto peppers stuffed with spiced beef, olives, egg and cheese, baked with cream on top. Arequipa's Sunday-lunch centrepiece.
Whipped yellow potato spiked with lime, ají amarillo and oil, layered around a tuna or chicken salad, cut into wedges like a cake. Lima's cold potato terrine.