Ecuadorian Shrimp Ceviche

Growing up as a missionary kid in Ecuador
meant that I fell in love with lots of food items
that just can't be found easily
in many regions of the United States.

So now that I live here
I have to either only eat them in my dreams
(not an option)
or try to learn to make some of it myself.

This holiday season
I hit up my brother for his adapted version
of this fantastic Ecuadorian dish,
and this is now MY adapted version of that!
(with more instructions)

My brother, Neil, actually went to a little hut on the beach
and asked the cook if he could watch him prepare it
and took loose notes on what he did....

Ecuadorian Shrimp Ceviche
(inspiration from Bernabe’s in Atacames, Ecuador)

1.5 lbs cooked shrimp (thawed)

   (I use size med- about 36-40 shrimp per pound)

6 limes, juiced

6 lemons, juiced

½ tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

3 Lg tomatoes, grated with fine edge, discard skins

3 Tbsp yellow mustard

3 Tbsp ketchup

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil

1 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

1 large red onion, sliced thin

Instructions: 

Detail all shrimp.
In a large bowl, combine lime and lemon juice, salt and sugar.
Toss shrimp in juice. Soak for 30-60 minutes.

In separate bowl,
grate tomatoes (discarding the skins),
add mustard, ketchup, salt, sugar, oil.
Combine. Add cilantro.

In kitchen strainer, place onion slices,
and run under hot tap water for 2 minutes.
Add onions to tomato bowl.

When shrimp has soaked for 30-60 minutes,
use a slotted spoon to put shrimp from juice into tomato bowl.
DO NOT THROW LEMON/LIME JUICE AWAY!
Combine shrimp with tomato mixture.
Add ½ cup lemon/lime juice into tomato bowl.
Mix ½ cup more juice into tomato bowl.
Continue to add 1 Tbsp juice into tomato bowl until it tastes balanced.

Let marinade for AT LEAST 8 hours,
stirring occasionally if desired.
Best if marinates up to 24 hours.

YOU MUST
Give it a taste test:
(OPTIONAL FOR MORE FLAVOR IF NEEDED) 

In a small bowl combine ½ cup lemon/lime juice,
2 Tbsp mustard, 2 Tbsp ketchup, a pinch of salt and sugar.
Then mix the new mixture in with the marinated shrimp mixture.
Sometimes it needs this, and other times it doesn't.
Serve chilled.

Serving ideas: 

Serve as opening course to a seafood or steak meal,
top with slices of ripe avocado,
top with unbuttered popcorn,
serve with fried plantains,
serve with lemon or lime wedge

You-Cah

Yesterday,
I was in our corner store
where they sell so many fruits and veggies
for a much better price than the "real" grocery store,
and I saw that they had frozen yucca!!
(Bobby Flay from food network
pronounces this wonderful latin american root veggie
as the 'yuck-uh' plant,
but that just sounds yucky and makes me grit my teeth,
so please read that as frozen you-cah, okay? *smile*

So I bought a bag, got good tips from my mom on how to best prepare the yucca, and brought it home to defrost. Today I plopped the thawed clumps of yucca into VERY salty water, and boiled them for 15 minutes.

Then I filled the skillet with lots of canola oil, heated it, and cut the slightly boiled yucca into slices (about the size of home fries). I did 3 minutes on each side, and then pulled them out, blotted off the oil, salted them with Sea Salt (definitely a new favorite for me!) and then served them up.

They turned a beautiful golden brown, and they tasted incredibley wonderfully salty and crunchy.

If you haven't tried this before, you'll just have to come visit us here, and I'll buy some more frozen yucca, and fry it up for ya!

It's like a tastier, crispier, flakier french fry.

There's proof you need to come visit us *wink*!