Ultimate Ceviche recipe & coastal Chilean wine pairings
If there’s ever an instant Chilean coastal pick-me-up, it’s the comfort and vibrancy of a chilled glass of coastal white with zesty ceviche. Helen J Conway explores this Latin American dish with the classic ceviche recipe and ideal pairings from Chile's cool-climate coastal wine regions.
Close your eyes and imagine you are sitting on the sunny terrace of a restaurant. The Pacific Ocean is lapping gently against the nearby beach, which is deserted apart from a few oystercatchers and a seagull that occasionally rents the air with its cries. Five pelicans fly overhead in military-style formation before landing majestically on the fishing wharf to your left, where the yellow and blue wooden fishing boats are bobbing lazily up and down in the hot afternoon.
The waiter arrives with a bottle of beautifully chilled Chilean Sauvignon Blanc and a plate of ceviche. The marinated fish dish with its soft texture and salty-citrus flavour pairs superbly with the white wine, transforming this into one of those moments to be remembered…
The origins of ceviche (aka cebiche, seviche, sebiche) are shrouded in mystery – some historians believe that the recipe comes from indigenous traditions, while others consider it to be an Arabic dish that came to South America via Spain. But whatever its past, today this is one of South America’s best-loved dishes, served in restaurants along the length of the continent from Mexico down to Chile. Peru takes their ceviche so seriously, it has given the dish cultural heritage status and named 28th June National Ceviche Day!
Ceviche everywhere starts with the same base ingredients: raw fish, citrus juice (usually lemon or lime), sliced onion and salt. However, as with many much-loved dishes around the world, the final recipe varies from country to country and from kitchen to kitchen and of course everyone thinks their own particular recipe is the best.
In Mexico the raw fish is shredded, giving it an even softer, smoother texture that is contrasted by the fresh notes of diced tomato and cucumber and then pepped up Mexican-style with a generous helping of diced chilli peppers. Prawns are a popular ceviche ingredient in Guatemala while Venezuelan recipes often include mango. Chefs in Peru tend to cut the fish into small cubes and marinade it with salt, garlic, chilli peppers and lots of lime juice; and some serve it with sweet potatoes, sweetcorn and sometimes other seafood like prawns, octopus and lobster. In Chile, the fish is diced and a pinch of Chile’s typical smoked chilli powder, merquén, is often added to a lemon (or lime) juice marinade, along with diced coriander leaves.
But innovative chefs in all countries play with these traditional recipes and add and subtract ingredients, so don’t be surprised to find ceviche made with salmon, enhanced with coconut milk, or served with the purple and pink potatoes from Chiloé.
And, for those who don’t eat fish or just fancy a change, there is a really delicious and vitamin-packed vegan variant in Chile: ceviche de cochayuyo made from seaweed.
Wherever you go in the region – or even if you are armchair travelling in the comfort of your own home - what could be a more authentic South American experience than a plate of ceviche, a glass of cool, crisp white wine, the warm sunshine on your face and the fresh, saline breeze blowing in from the Pacific Ocean?