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Catfish or Tilapia Ceviche Recipe
As Mark Twain once said, "the catfish is a plenty good enough fish for anyone." Indeed, catfish are quite popular in some regions, including the American Midwest and more to the point for this spicy catfish ceviche recipe, southern Mexico.
While some people profess to dislike these hardy bottom feeding fish, they actually are quite delicious, especially when properly prepared, which they all too often are not. In this catfish ceviche recipe, their uniquely earthy and subtly sweet flavor is allowed its rightful place as the star of the dish, accompanied by plenty of hot Serrano peppers and lime juice, along with a little tomato and cilantro to round out the flavors of the recipe.
Even if you have never really liked catfish before, try making it this way; you will be surprised by just how good catfish really is - and you can always substitute tilapia if you cannot bring yourself to try uncooked catfish or if they are not available in your local market.
Spicy Catfish Ceviche
Ingredients -
3 pounds of catfish or tilapia fillets
3-4 medium tomatoes
5-6 Serrano peppers, diced small
1 onion, diced small
Juice of 24 limes
½ tablespoon salt
¼ cup cilantro (finely chopped)
Sliced avocado, lime wedges and tortilla chips or baguette slices, for serving
Preparation:
Chop the onion, cilantro, tomatoes, and Serrano peppers and cut the catfish (or tilapia) into ½ inch pieces and mix together with the onion, peppers, and tomatoes in a large glass or ceramic bowl.
Squeeze the limes over the ceviche and add the salt and cilantro.
Refrigerate, covered for one hour and stir again before returning to the refrigerator for another 3-4 hours. Serve with tortilla chips or baguette slices, lime wedges and avocado slices.
(Serves 6)
Photo Description:
Ceviche is an easy dish to make, since it is not cooked in the traditional sense. In fact, it is really more like making a salad - and other than the time needed for the dish to marinate, it takes almost no time whatsoever to make. You can easily make it in the morning to enjoy at dinner, even before heading off to work in the morning. That is one of the many things which makes this South American seafood dish so special - but of course, it is the assertive tangy, spicy flavors of the dish which make it so wonderful to eat.
One note about this recipe: this does make a fairly large amount of pretty spicy ceviche, so feel free to divide the recipe in half to make a smaller amount or reduce the amount of Serrano peppers in order to make a less spicy dish.
