Ceviche: My Southeast Asian Inspired Ceviche

Ceviche

 

[caption id="attachment_1830" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ceviche - Click To Enlarge[/caption]

I love Ceviche! It is one of my favorite dishes to make because I don't have to turn on the oven. Ceviche is a dish that has gained a lot of popularity in the Americas over the years and can be found in many Mexican and other latin restaurants. Most of us have experienced Ceviche in Mexican restaurants and it is made slightly differently throughout Mexico and the Southwest United States. Ceviche is a dish loved in Central and South America.

Ceviche is generally made of raw fish or seafood that has been marinated in citrus juices and kicked up a notch or two with chili pepper and garlic. Other seasoning are used depending on what type of Ceviche you are making. Other things like onions, cilantro, salt and even rice vinegar are added to enhance the flavor.

Today Ceviche is an international dish that is made in a myriad of ways and is still open to interpretation as the the ingredients used to make the dish are so wide and varied. In my opinion the best Ceviche comes from places like Peru, Chile, Mexico and the Caribbean. The fact of the matter is that it is all good and no one can say they have the best Ceviche.

Some people in the "know" feel that Ceviche has it's origins in Peru. This might be so I really can't say. It is thought that Ceviche goes so far back in history that it was eaten by the Incans. Supposedly the Incans marinated the fish in a concoction called "Chica" which is a fermented drink from the Andes and then later in history the Incans switched to using citrus juices from the fruits that the Spanish had brought with them from Spain.

Nevertheless I felt like making Ceviche for this blog post and video and so I wanted to make a version of Ceviche that was different from the standard Mexican and Southwestern varieties that so many of us are accustomed to. So I thougth to myself how do I want to make this dish. I thought if I used shrimp and scallops then it would be close to the Mexican/Southwestern variety. I didn't want to just use fish and make it like Ceviche Peruano. So I thought to myself about the fact that I LOVE Southeast Asian flavors and the idea came to me to make Southeast Asian inspired Ceviche.

How was I going to pull this off? I started looking for fish from Southeast Asia and I found that the Swai fillets that I buy all the time are from Southeast Asia! The Swai is a shark variety of catfish called "Tra" in Thailand. It is the number one aquaculture crop of Thailand and is eaten by the Thai's and exported to us here in the states. It is a fresh water catfish from the Mekong Delta region of Viet Nam. It is called Swai because the United States Agriculture Dept. and the government of Thailand had to come to an agreement to all it something other than catfish so as not to cut in on the American catfish market and the profits of American catfish farming and sales. Hence the name Swai. Whammo! I was in there! I had some shrimp which is used in Southeast Asia and whammo! I was in there again! Then all I had to do was choose my seasonings. I chose purple onion(which is used in the Latin versions of Ceviche as well!)and I chose garlic(also used in the Latin versions of Ceviche)I also chose lemongrass, Thai bird chilies, cilantro(used in the Latin versions of Ceviche)Limes(used in the Latin Ceviche)lemon, orange, and a grapefruit.

Many of these ingredients as stated above are used in the Latin versions of Ceviche but in this case are also the flavors of countries like Thailand and Viet Nam. This is one of the things I love best about food is the similarities of ingredients and useage around the world. So let's make some Ceviche!

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Options For Serving:
I cut an avocado in half and stuffed the halves. I also did the same thing with a roma tomato and a regular cucumber. My favorite was to either grill or fry up some corn tortillas and make Asian Ceviche tacos! Yummy. I usually drizzle a bit of sesame oil on these items before serving them. I been adding the Ceviche and a combination of olive and sesame oils to some spaghetti and taking it to work with me this week and my co-workers love the smell of it after it is cooked. This Ceviche also makes for an excellent Ceviche Bruschetta on some nice toasted French or Italian bread. This is just a smattering of suggestions for this recipe and I am sure that you my readers can come up with many, many more great ideas for this Ceviche dish! Make it your own and above all else please ENJOY!