Chilean Ceviche

Origins

Cebiche (or Ceviche) belongs to all the countries of the Pacific coast of South America. It is not only Mexican, or Peruvian, or Chilean, but each country has its own way of preparing it, creating thus different flavors.
There are different hypothesis about its origin. One of them says that it came from the word “cebo” (bait), which was what was used to fish in the coast. When dinner time came, the boss ordered the men to eat the fish that was to be used as bait. This bait was raw fish and had a strong smell. Therefore, fishermen used to add lemon juice to it and also other different tastes to better it. In that way, this bait got to be this very popular preparation.

What is it?

Cebiche is basically raw fish cooked by the lemon juice or any citric juice.
Mussels, salmon, corvina, shrimps, sea bass, etc. are different products of the sea used to prepare cebiche in different countries. Also lemon juice, grapefruit juice or orange or lime juice are also used in the different preparations.

Recipe

Ingredients:

2 pounds corvina, or salmon, or sea bass
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 onion
1/2 cup of chopped parsley
½ cup cilantro finely chopped
1 cup lemon juice
1 cup white wine
2 spoons of olive oil
¼ cup vinegar
salt

Preparation:

Cut the fish in squares of about an inch per an inch, after you take all the bones out of the fish.
Put the fish in a glass bowl and in layers, the fish, the vegetables cut in little squares,
and pour over it after each layer, the mixture of juices and wine, and vinegar. Don’t move the fish. Cover it all with the liquid preparation. Let it be in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours.
Serve it over lettuce leaves or in cups. And serve also a very cold white wine as a drink.

Note: don’t ever use metal recipients or spoons in the preparation of the cebiche. If you prepare it with mussels, cook them until they are opened, take the meat out of them and then add the different flavors.
With any other fish just prepare being raw, they get cooked with the lemon juice.