This spicy ceviche from the southern Mexican state of Chiapas can be served on fresh greens for lunch or for a light dinner, accompanied by warm tortillas. Any of the fish substitutions will work equally as well in this dish. Note: This recipe requires advance preparation..

Ingredients

(Sunfish Ceviche)

• 2 pounds cichlid or sunfish fillets (or substitute freshwater fish: bass, perch, or pan fish)

• 4 jalapeño chiles, stems and seeds removed, minced

• 1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice

• 1 cup chopped red onion or sweet onion

• 2 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/2 cup chopped green olives

• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise

Instructions

Cut the fish into 1-inch pieces and place them in a shallow glass baking dish, such as Pyrex, pour the lemon juice over them and sprinkle with 1/2 of the minced jalapeños. Marinate the fish for one hour in the refrigerator. Then pour the fish and the marinade into a colander and let it drain for a few minutes. Carefully place the fish into a glass bowl and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix the onion, tomatoes, salt, black pepper, cilantro, olive oil, garlic and the remaining jalapeños together. Pour this mixture over the fish and mix gently.

Mix the green olives and the mayonaise together in a small bowl.

Serve the marinated fish on fresh greens with a dollop of the olive-mayonnaise mixture.

This recipe is from Kathy Gallantine, who told about her search for the best ceviche. “If you wish to try Acapulco-Style ceviche at Palapa Adriana,” she said, “a restaurant on the Malecón in La Paz, Baja California Sur, you must specially request it. The ceviche listed on the menu is served without the peas, carrots, and serrano chiles. Serve this dish for a light lunch or a light dinner on hot nights when you don’t even want to turn on an oven!”

Note: This recipe requires advance preparation.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds of any white fish fillet, chopped

• 8 Mexican (Key) limes, juiced

• 2 serrano chiles, stems and seeds removed, minced (or more to taste)

• 1 tomato, finely chopped

• 1/2 onion, finely chopped

• 1/4 cup canned peas

• 1/4 cup finely diced cooked carrots

• 2 teaspoons minced fresh cilantro

• Salt and black pepper to taste

• 8 to 10 corn tortillas, fried flat and very crisp

Instructions

Place the chopped fish in a shallow ceramic bowl. Pour the lime juice over the fish, cover and refrigerate the mixture for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the fish is opaque.

Just before serving the ceviche, stir in the tomato, onion, peas, carrots, and cilantro. Add the salt and pepper to taste. With a slotted spoon, heap the ceviche onto the crisp tortillas and serve.

This recipe was provided by author Kathy Gallantine. She collected it from Antonio Seja Torrez, a clam-picker in Baja. Every day at low tide, Antonio crawls through the mangroves and collects 500 pata de mula “clams,” that are really mussels. He carries the several miles to the dock at Magdalena Bay, where he sells them for ten pesos apiece. His daily earnings come to about $2.00 U.S. “About enough to buy a kilo of beans,” he says cheerfully. Try this recipe with true clams, but be prepared too pay a much higher price for them! Note: This recipe requires advance preparation.

Ingredients

• Bottled Mexican hot sauce, to taste

• 24 whole clams, removed from their shells

• 1 onion, chopped

• 1 tomato, chopped

• Juice of 6 to 8 Mexican (Key) limes

• Salt and black pepper to taste

• 1/4 bunch fresh cilantro (optional)

• 2 pounds crushed ice (optional)

Instructions

Combine all of the ingredients except the cilantro and the ice. Put the ceviche into a covered ceramic bowl and refrigerate it until it’s well-chilled, about 3 hours.. Serve it immediately or let the flavors marry and serve it up to three days later.

To serve the ceviche Guaymas-style, save the clam shells and scrub them well. Fill 4 to 6 shallow bowls or plates with crushed ice. Nest the half shells into the ice and heap them with the ceviche. Then garnish each plate with a sprig of cilantro.

Variation: Use freshly shucked oysters in place of the clams. Omit the tomato and add an 8-ounce can of sliced water chestnuts, and 1/2 of a red bell pepper, seeds removed, and chopped.