A good ceviche is one of the best lunches you can eat in Perú, or anywhere on earth. The best part? While you can go to a fancy restaurant and eat a good ceviche, many of the best ceviches I’ve eaten have been from humble menus, cheap roadside cafes that serve a two-course lunch for only 2 or 3 dollars. Ceviche is not restricted to only those who can afford the delicacy, like Russian caviar or French foie gras, which are very well-known but also eye-wateringly expensive. Ceviche, in contrast, is eaten by all Peruvians, in all regions, and at any and all prices.
The key to a good ceviche, is good fresh fish. I live several hours from the coast, but Peruvians have such an appetite for ceviche that fresh fish comes in every morning from places like Chimbote, a beach town in my region about 5 hours away. Ceviche usually calls for fish such as sole, a large flounder-like flat fish, mackerel, grouper, mahi-mahi or bonito fish. However, in the sierra, or the highlands where I live, it’s common to see these saltwater fish substituted for trout.
You’ll need a bit of fresh ginger, some slices of sweet potato, already cooked, a good helping of salt, some red onion, some chopped yellow chili, a few stems of cilantro, a cup of water and the juice of 5 limes. The ginger, celery, cilantro, half of the red onion, lime juice, water and chili are blended in a food processor.
First, the fish is removed of its scales, deboned, and chopped into bitesize pieces.
