Firm white fish cut into cubes and cured in leche de tigre for a couple of minutes only, so the outside turns opaque while the centre stays pearly and sweet. Aji limo brings a floral heat that lime alone cannot. Sweet potato and boiled corn on the side take the edge off all that acid.
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Get the garnishes out of the way first, because the fish will not wait. Boil the peeled sweet potato in lightly salted, faintly sweetened water for about 20 minutes until tender, and boil the corn cobs alongside. Cool both, then cut the sweet potato into 2 cm rounds and the corn into thick wheels.
Slice the red onion as thinly as you can against the grain, rinse it under cold running water, then leave it in iced water for 10 minutes. Drain well just before serving.
Trim the fish and cut it into even 2 cm cubes, keeping any ragged trimmings to one side. Keep everything cold — bowl included, if you have room in the fridge.
For the leche de tigre, blend the trimmings with the lime juice, garlic, ginger, half an aji limo, the celery, a good pinch of salt and the ice cubes for about 20 seconds, then strain through a fine sieve. It should be cloudy, ice-cold and aggressively sharp.
Season the fish cubes with salt, pour the leche de tigre over, and add the remaining aji limo sliced into fine rings and most of the chopped coriander. Stir once and leave for 2-3 minutes only, until the outer surface turns white and the centre is still translucent.
Fold through the drained onion, taste for salt and lime, and plate straight away with the sweet potato, corn, toasted corn kernels and a lettuce leaf. The leche de tigre left in the bowl is the best part — drink it.
Cure the fish at the table, not in advance: after ten minutes in lime it goes chalky and tastes cooked rather than cured. Soaking the sliced red onion in iced water for ten minutes keeps it crisp and strips out the raw bite.
Comments (3)
the sweet potato is not a garnish, it balances all that lime
aji limo is impossible to find here so i used habanero very sparingly
two minutes felt far too short but the texture is completely different. no more rubbery fish.
exactly. if it looks chalky in the middle it sat too long