Ingredients
500 gr Salmon
1 cebolla blanca cortada en cubitos pequeños
1 tomate grande cortado en cubitos pequeños
½ taza de jugo de limón fresco
½ taza de jugo de naranja fresco
50 gr de cilantro cortado en cubitos
1 aguacate cortado en cubitos
10 ml of Olive oil
Preparation
Clean, take out the skin and dice the salmon in 1cm.
In a bowl mix the salmon with the onion, orange and lemon juice. Refrigerate for at least four hours.
A little before serving, discard the excess of liquid.
Add the tomato, coriander, oil, salt, pepper and mix.
Finally add the avocado.
Done!
Some history
Ceviche or cebiche is the quintessential peruvian plate. There is a great polemic regarding its origin. Some say that the name comes from the Quechua language in which the word Siwichi means “fresh fish” this would mean the cebiche is a recipe that has existed for more than 2000 years! Originally thought the fish was marinated with local fruits, particularly the Tumbo, from the same family as the Passion Fruit, and has a similar acidity to it.
Instead there are others that believe that its origin is the result of the fusion of different cultures. Ceviche is similar to the arab pickle marinades, that became a basic cooking technique in Spain. So when Spain conquest Peru it is likely they tried to reproduce the technique with local ingredients.
Socio-economics
This ceviche is non traditional, as normally for this recipe it is used non fat fishes.
Originally I wanted to write about the peruvian fish industry. But I found a very interesting documentary that its worth to mention.
On Peru, as in most latin american countries farmers fight to improve their economic conditions. Unfortunately it is an undervalue rated and most of them have a hard time to survive. And some of them succumb to the most immediate and fast to profit option: illegal crops, specially marihuana and cocaine. In the documentary Perú sabe: la cocina arma social (Peru knows: cuisine as a social weapon) they talk about how Peru gave incentives to farmers to change the illegal crops to cofee and cacao ones, it has been a success among families as many of them say, with cocaine they generated money but also violence and life was unbearable that way. Unfortunately there is still no data regarding the economic growth, so we will have to keep an eye on it and see how it goes.
Here a video on this subject Farmers switch from coca to cacao (VO. Spanish with eng. subtitles)
