Basil Ceviche

Being that I am from the northern hemisphere, when it is warm out I forget that Valentine’s Day is around the corner. So, waiting until the last minute means that the restaurants we want to go to are all booked up. Instead we decided to have a nice romantic dinner at home. I decided to change up the traditional Peruvian ceviche ingredient of cilantro and used basil (and lots of it) instead, which gave an extra freshness to the recipe.

1 kilo of Reineta (Southern rays bream), filleted and chopped in bite-sized chunks

*reineta is a common and cheap fish in Chile that is also often used in sushi. If you don’t have access to reineta you can substitute it with any white fish.

2 teaspoons of finely chopped rocoto

2 ají verde (seeded and diced)

1 small yellow onion (finely sliced)

1/4 green pepper (finely sliced)

juice from 2 medium lemons

a splash of white vinegar

1 garlic clove (minced)

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil

Mix everything together and put it in the fridge for at least 3 hours.

This dish is gluten-free, dairy-free, and the fish can be substituted with corn, zucchini, hearts of palm, tomatoes, avocados, cucumbers … to make it vegetarian and vegan. Enjoy!