I’m a little bit obsessed with ceviche. What exactly is it? Ceviche is the seafood dish originated in Peru, typically made from fresh raw fish, cured in citrus juices (such as lemon or lime), chili peppers or other seasonings including chopped onions, salt and cilantro.
In Mexico and some part of Central America, it is served with tostadas, salted crackers or as a tostada topping and taco filling. When served in a cup with tomato sauce, it’s called a ceviche cocktail. Other popular bases for Mexican civiche are shrimp, octopus, squid, tuna and mackerel.
Each country in the Caribbean, North and Central America have their own version of ceviche. In Puerto Rico and other places in the Caribbean, the dish is prepared with coconut milk. In the Bahamas and South Florida, a conch ceviche is known as ‘conch salad’ with fresh conch, lime juice, chopped onions, celery and bell pepper.
During our 7-day scuba diving trip in the Cayman Islands, we had lionfish ceviche on our liveaboard. Our dive master had a license to spearfish the lionfish and we saw her do it in the afternoon underwater and had it for dinner that day. It was divine.
In Ecuador, where we visited last month, their ceviche was sometimes made with tomato sauce, for a tangy taste. It’s made with various types of local seafood, such as octopus, fish and shrimp. I also had my first grilled shrimp ceviche on Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos and it was interesting. I thought they are usually raw but I wasn’t complaining, it was awesome! You get that smokiness from the grilled shrimp. They usually serve ceviche with thinly sliced plantain chips and toasted corn kernels. We spent two days in the charming city of Quito and 8 amazing days in the Galapagos. I ate ceviche everyday from different places, like I was on some sort of ceviche marathon. All were so good and so fresh. I was in heaven.
Here’s one of the pictures I took from the restaurant called “the Rock” on Santa Cruz. It’s octopus ceviche. It was delish and look at the presentation. On the big clam shell, c’mon! Like I said, I was in heaven.
I don’t mean to get out of the topic but here’s the most picturesque Bartolome Island in the Galapagos. It was one of the most beautiful places I’ve been to and I cannot not share it with you guys.
So that was a long story of ceviche. My inspiration is to make my own version. In our city, I like to order ceviche from one of our local modern sushi restaurant called “Blue”. They serve it with crispy wontons made from wonton (egg roll) wrappers. It’s so easy to make. My version is to bake them. Less messy, and healthier. You can get wonton wrappers, or sometimes it’s labeled “eggroll wrappers”, from your local Asian store, but most groceries carry them.
Let’s cook some food!
Start with the crispy wontons. Preheat the oven to 350 ºF.
For the wontons, if you can’t find small ones, you can use the big one and cut them into 4 first, then cut again into the triangles.
Brush them lightly with some vegetable oil or light olive oil.
Sprinkle with some salt.
Baked until golden brown (about 7-10 minutes).
Now for the ceviche. Grill the shrimp until cooked through, you can tell when the color turns pink. Don’t overcook them.
I used my indoor grill pan
Cut them into small pieces, put them in a bowl. Add lime and lemon juice, set aside and let it marinated for 15 minutes.
Now you can use this time to clean and cut all the veggies.
Add the veggies to the bowl.
Add some salt to taste.
Stir gently until combined.
Serve with some crispy wontons. Enjoy!
I hope you give this Shrimp Ceviche with Crispy Wontons a try and let me know how it goes, the recipe card and comment box are below.
- For crispy wontons:
- 12 small wonton wrappers (eggroll wrappers), cut into triangles
- vegetable oil or light olive oil
- salt
- For shrimp ceviche:
- 12 large shrimps
- juice of 1 lime
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 avocado, cut into cubes
- ½ cup English cucumber, diced
- ½ cup cherry tomatoes, diced
- 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
- 1 small shallots, minced
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
- salt
- Preheat the oven to 350 ºF. Cut wonton wrappers into triangles, brush lightly with some vegetable oil or light olive oil, sprinkle with some salt and bake for 7-10 minutes.
- Grill the shrimp until cooked through, you can tell when the color turns pink. Don't overcook them.
- Cut them into small pieces, put them in a bowl. Add lime and lemon juice, set aside and let it marinated for 15 minutes.
- Add the veggies to the bowl. Add some salt to taste. Stir gently until combined. Serve with some crispy wontons. Enjoy!
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