4 – Ceviche

Ceviche deserves its own article as well. And I already wrote a few months ago about it. There are several international styles of Ceviche, but the Peruvian one is the original and definitely the best one. Confusion exists unfortunately again with the right spelling. But no matter if a menu offers you cebiche, seviche or sebiche – Be sure, that you’ll be on the right path if you read one of these words.

In Peru, Ceviche has been declared to be part of Peru’s national heritage and has even had a holiday declared in its honor. The 28th of June is the national day of Ceviche. So far I don’t have any idea, how these people are celebrating it, maybe I still will be able to find out.

From the making one could say, that Ceviche is very simple to prepare. And actually, it is correct. But sometimes it’s the simple things in life that that brings us the most joy. In case of the preparation of the famous national dish Ceviche, the classic variant is composed of chunks of raw fish (corvina or sea bass) which are marinated in squeezed key lime or bitter orange juice, but lime juice is more common. Besides that, sliced onions, chili peppers, salt and pepper give a spicy and aromatic flavor.

Ceviche is healthy and served cold, don’t expect, that you will be served a hot meal. Usually it comes with cooked corn, camote (a kind of sweet potato that I fell in love with ❤ ) and bit of decorative greenery like leaves of lettuce or alga. Sometimes, also Chifles (fried banana crisps) and yucca arrives on your table after you order it.

There is not one Peruvian Ceviche – Of course, every restaurant, kitchen, and chef has an own recipe which may differ to the above-mentioned versions with its components. Be sure, that every time you order ceviche, the taste will be slightly different from the one before, but always good. Try also different types of ceviche, you shouldn’t be limited to the ‘normal fish version’ with sea bass or corvina if you have interesting alternatives like seafood for example.

Take a look to all the different examples of Ceviche:

• 

• 

• 

• 

Very important: If the waiter asks you how spicy you’d wish your ceviche and you don’t want to burn your gums, better say ‘poco’ or maximum ‘medio’. Even I don’t order the spicy hot version of ceviche, because I like to keep its natural and sour taste and don’t want to get scorched of too spicy ingredients. Peruvians like it hot!

I feel deeply sorry for every vegetarian who will miss this wonderful dish because of his/her conviction. If I would have to rate it, it’ll be under the Top 5 dishes I ever ate.

You can find a variety of recipes here.

Next page: An ancient dish from old slaves