Black Ceviche – Stefan's Connoisseur Weblog

Ceviche was usually on the menu in eating places throughout my journey to Yucatán, Mexico. Ceviche is uncooked seafood that’s ‘cooked’ by marinating it in citrus juice. What stunned me most after I ordered it in Yucatán, was that it was black in colour. The black colour may be from a ‘fusion’ ingredient like soy sauce or Maggi seasoning, making it extra like a Peruvian fusion dish known as tiradito. But it surely may also be from the black seasoning utilized in Mayan cooking in Yucatán known as recado negro, which can be used to make Relleno Negro. And naturally the juice of Seville oranges ought to be used, the ever present ingredient in Mayan cooking. Uncooked shrimp additionally gave the impression to be a continuing think about Yucatese ceviche. The outcome is a superb ceviche with a scrumptious and authentic taste from the charred components within the recado negro. In Mexico ceviche was served with tostados, toasted corn tortillas, on the aspect.

The recado negro is simply mildly spicy. For additional spiciness, serve a habanero salsa on the aspect. A number of drops blended in (and only some drops) will add a further dimension.

The same dish in Mexico is named aguachile. The distinction between aguachile and ceviche is that aguachile is served straight after mixing the marinade with the seafood, moderately than permitting it to ‘prepare dinner’ within the citrus juice for a while. Since that ‘cooking’ course of occurs moderately rapidly, particularly with skinny items of seafood, and for finest outcomes the marinating time of ceviche shouldn’t be so lengthy anyway, I don’t assume the distinction is as profound as some make it out to be.

It’s high quality if the shrimps have been frozen moderately than contemporary. That will truly be higher, as a result of freezing kills any parasites which may be current within the shrimp. I like to recommend to make use of unpeeled and wild-caught shrimp for this. Pink snapper is essentially the most acceptable fish (as it’s what’s utilized in Mexico), however I’ve used European sea bass as a result of that’s obtainable right here. As normal, the Seville oranges may be substituted by a mix of standard oranges and limes.

Substances

For 4 servings

150 grams (5-6 oz) sashimi grade snapper or sea bass fillet
150 grams (5-6 oz) peeled and deveined shrimp, 300 grams (.66 lb) with heads and shells
45 grams (3 Tbsp) recado negro, from this recipe
250 ml (1 cup) Seville orange juice, or a mix of 100 ml orange and 150 ml lime juice
15 grams (1/2 oz) chopped contemporary cilantro (with out stems)
75 grams (3 oz) pink onion, quartered and thinly sliced
125 grams (4-5 oz) cucumber, diced
1 sliced avocado (elective)
salt
4 toasted corn tortillas (tostados)
habanero salsa (elective), from this recipe

Preparation

Peel the pink onion, minimize it in quarters, and slice thinly. Soak the sliced onion in chilly water for a minimum of half an hour to mellow its taste.

Peel the shrimp. Minimize in half lengthwise.

Take away the vein.

Rinse the shrimp with chilly water and pat dry with paper towels. Relying on the dimensions of your shrimp, you might want to chop them into smaller (chunk dimension) items.

Slice the snapper or sea bass in chunk dimension slices.

Mix the shrimp and fish in a bowl with the recado negro. Add salt for those who didn’t put salt into your recado negro.

Combine the seafood and recado. Permit to marinate within the fridge for an hour, coated.

Peel and cube the cucumber. Drain the onion. Add the cucumber, onion, and cilantro to the seafood, along with the orange and lime juice. The juice ought to barely cowl the seafood.

Combine the whole lot and permit to marinate/prepare dinner for about half an hour within the fridge, coated. Stir it after quarter-hour.

Toast the corn tortillas for 10 minutes at 180C/350F, fan pressured, to make tostados.

Take the ceviche out of the fridge about 5 minutes earlier than serving (relying on ambient temperature). The ceviche ought to be cool however not chilly when serving.

Serve the ceviche on a plate…

…or in a cocktail glass. Garnish with cilantro and (elective) sliced avocado. Serve with tostados and habanero salsa on the aspect.

Wine pairing

At Yucatán-themed wine pairing dinners that I hosted for family and friends, we tried this black ceviche with the next wines:

Markus Molitor Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese 2018 (100% Riesling, Mosel, Germany)
Citari Vecchio Vigneto San Martino della Battaglia DOC 2019 (100% Friulano, Lombardia, Italy)
Ceraudo Grisara 2020 Calabria IGT (100% Pecorello, Calabria, Italy)
Ippolito 1845 Pecorello 2021 Calabria IGT (100% Pecorello, Calabria, Italy)
Domäne Wachau Grüner Veltliner Smaragd 2021 (100% Grüner Veltliner, Wachau, Austria)

All wines had been good pairings with the ceviche, however the Grisara was the very best, with the Citari a detailed runner-up. The Riesling and Grüner Veltliner had been a bit too contemporary/acidic when habanero salsa was added to the ceviche.