Coconut and sea bass ceviche

In ceviche, the lime juice acidity ‘cooks’ the raw fish, resulting in a beautifully light, delicious starter that requires very little work.

Serves 2
Preparation time: 20 minute

Ingredients

1-2 plum tomatoes
113g sea bass, skinned and diced into 1cm cubes
juice of 2-3 limes
2 tablespoons coconut milk
½  tablespoon olive oil
a pinch of sea salt
¼  small red onion, finely diced
½  clove of garlic, finely chopped
½  habanero (Scotch bonnet) chilli, finely diced
a handful of coriander leaves, chopped

To serve

chopped coriander leaves
2-3 radishes, finely sliced
¼ avocado, peeled, stoned, roughly diced and tossed in the juice of ¼ lime
Tortilla chips or crackers

Method

1. Cover the tomatoes with boiling water and count to 20. Drain and pierce them with a knife so that the skins slip off easily. Deseed and dice the tomatoes into 1cm cubes.
2. Place the fish in a glass bowl. Add the lime juice, coconut milk, olive oil, salt, onion, garlic and chilli.  Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour for a light marinade, or 4 hours in total if you want the fish to be completely ‘cooked’. The flesh of the bass will turn from translucent to opaque and white when it is completely cooked.  
3. Drain the fish of the marinade, keeping it aside. Add the tomato and coriander to the fish and gently mix together, adding some of the marinade back into the fish if it looks dry.
4. Spoon the ceviche onto small starter plates, and sprinkle over the chopped coriander, sliced radishes and diced avocado. Hand out tortilla chips to scoop up and eat the ceviche.

Recipes from Mexican Food Made Simple by Thomasina Miers © Thomasina Miers 2010, published by Hodder & Stoughton

Photographer Claire Wilks © Blink Films 2011