Ceviche de Corvina Panameño

Panama's ceviche of corvina cubed and cured for hours in lime with onion, celery, ají chombo, and chopped culantro, eaten from a paper cup with crackers

Origin: Panama City & the Isthmus

From the journey of Culantro.

The word culantro names two different plants depending on where it is spoken, and ceviche is where the difference shows. In Lima, culantro means coriander, Coriandrum sativum, and a Peruvian ceviche is finished with its delicate leaves. In Panama, culantro means Eryngium foetidum, the long saw-edged leaf that Puerto Rico calls recao and Trinidad chadon beni, and the Panamanian ceviche is made with that. The two recipes can use the same word and describe different herbs. The Panamanian ceviche differs in method as well. The fish, traditionally corvina, a white sea bass, is cut into small cubes and left in lime for anything from half an hour to several hours, far longer than the brief Peruvian cure, so that it turns fully opaque and firm. Onion, celery, and ají chombo, the Panamanian scotch bonnet, go in with it, and the culantro is chopped fine so that its strength is spread through the whole bowl rather than sitting on top. It is sold by the paper cup at the fish market on the waterfront of Panama City, the Mercado de Mariscos, where the stalls also do octopus, prawn, and mixed versions, and it is eaten with salted crackers and a cold beer.

Ingredients

Ceviche

  • 500 g very fresh corvina or other firm white sea fish, skinned and cut into 1 cm cubes
  • 250 ml lime juice (from about 10 limes)
  • 1 white onion, finely chopped
  • 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
  • 0.5 ají chombo or scotch bonnet pepper, seeded and very finely chopped
  • 15 g culantro leaves, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp salt

To Serve

  • 1 packet saltine crackers, to serve

Method

  1. Put the cubed fish in a glass or ceramic bowl, season with the salt, and pour over enough lime juice to cover it.
  2. Add the onion, celery, ají chombo, and culantro and stir gently.
  3. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, stirring once or twice, until the fish is opaque right through.
  4. Taste for salt and heat, and serve cold in small cups with saltine crackers.

Notes

Buy fish that is fit to eat raw and keep it very cold throughout. If culantro is unavailable, fresh coriander makes a pleasant ceviche, but it will be the Peruvian herb in a Panamanian dish.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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