This seabass ceviche with Peruvian black mint is an effortless yet exquisite plate of vibrant, tangy, minty and herby deliciousness.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Table of contents
- What is Peruvian Black Mint?
- What is Ceviche?
- Is the Fish in Ceviche Raw?
- Not into Raw Fish?
- Peruvian Black Mint Ceviche Recipe
- What’s the best fish for Ceviche with Huacatay?
- Chillies (chili peppers) in ceviche
- Peruvian Black Mint Substitute
- How long to marinate Ceviche with Peruvian Black Mint?
- How to serve Ceviche with Peruvian Black Mint?
- More Ceviche Recipes on LinsFood
What is Peruvian Black Mint?
The Peruvian black mint, known locally as Huacatay, is a herb with minty, aniseed and citrusy aromas, and very popular not just in Peru but many parts of South America. You can read more about it here.
It’s a herb that’s become more and more popular this last decade, both with restaurant chefs and the private chef.
As soon as I got the first scent, I knew that I was going to be using it in ceviche. What better way to enjoy a herb than using it fresh? Here, the lime juice complements the citrusy nature of the huacatay to perfection.
What is Ceviche?
Pronounced say-vee-chay (or say-bee-chay in Spain), this is a dish of raw fish or seafood cured in citrus juice, whether lime or lemon, and flavoured with herbs and chilli.
Ceviche is of Latin American in origin; specifically, Peru. It hails from the coastal region, and in its most basic form, has only raw fish, lime juice and chilli (pepper).
Is the Fish in Ceviche Raw?
Yes and no! In ceviche, the fish turns an opaque colour due to the citric acid (in lime and lemon juice) in the marinade, and is no longer that translucent, raw colour.
Depending on who you speak to, some people say the lime juice cooks the fish, others will say that only heat cooks anything properly!
There is truth in both. The citric acid denatures (changes) the protein in the fish in a similar way that heat does. However, it does not kill all the bacteria (not all bacteria is bad though, remember?) in the meat.
But as long as you are using fresh fish (or frozen fish from a quality supplier), you are perfectly fine to consume meat that has been “cooked” in acid.
Not into Raw Fish?
Don’t fret. Just lightly sear the fish pieces until cooked. Then just toss them with the marinade.
Peruvian Black Mint Ceviche Recipe
- Is easy.
- Is great for entertaining.
- Makes a great amuse-bouche between courses.
I’ve kept our Peruvian black mint ceviche recipe very simple. In fact, if you look at the other ceviche recipes on this site (gallery below), you’ll see that they all tend to be that way.
This is because I like my ceviche to have a “clean” taste to it, allowing one to enjoy every single ingredient individually, with each mouthful.
In this Huacatay ceviche, the main players are:
- sea bass
- Peruvian black mint
- onion
- tomatoes
- chilli (pepper)
- lime juice
It was very tempting to bulk it up with avocado, cucumbers and other stuff, but I really, really, wanted the huacatay to shine through. Avocado, when stirred into ceviche and salads, tends to mess things up slightly, with its creamy nature. So, I compromised and served the avocado on the side.
To complement the ceviche, not be a part of it.
What’s the best fish for Ceviche with Huacatay?
Sea bass is the Peruvian favourite, as used in today’s ceviche with Peruvian black mint. However, any white fish will do perfectly, as will prawns (shrimp), scallops, and even lobster and crab meat.
Some people will advise against oily fish but one of my favourite ceviche recipes is the Fusion Larb Salmon Ceviche on LinsFood. The salmon works so well with the Latin/Thai marinade in that recipe.
Chillies (chili peppers) in ceviche
The type and number of your chillies will determine how much of a kick your ceviche has.
At the time of making this recipe (July 2019), neither of my yellow Peruvian chillies were… well, yellow!
So neither the Aji Limo nor the Aji Amarillo made it into this recipe. I’m growing another Peruvian chilli this year for the first time – aji charapita. Even they aren’t yellow as I write this!
So I went for a couple of bird’s eye type chillies, which produced quite a bit of heat in this ceviche. If you don’t like heat, go for a jalapeño, or even just a green bell pepper, for the fruity flavour, with none of the heat.
How to grow Lemon Drop Pepper (Aji Limon) in the UK
Equipment
- seed tray
- pots as needed
- saucers for the pots
Ingredients
- lemon drop pepper seeds
- compost for seeds
Instructions
- Sow the seeds in March in a warm place. (February if you have a greenhouse/conservatory). Water lightly with a fine spray or mist generously.
- As soon as the seedlings appear, uncover them, and leave them somewhere bright, so they’ll get sturdy. Water, if needed, as above. Don't overwater as they will become mouldy.
- Pot these little seedlings up in small 7cm-9cm (3″-4″) pots with compost meant for seedlings. Place them in a bright place. Get grow lights if you haven’t got a handy windowsill.
- Then, you just wait for them to outgrow their pots before repotting them. I usually do this twice more. When you repot the chilli plant, a lot of energy is spent on growing the roots, so planting up into a large pot too soon, can result in unhappy plants, as the much needed energy goes downwards instead of upwards.Water regularly.
- Plant out in May, when the evenings are not too cold anymore. Water and feed regularly. I love Chilli Focus, just do a Google search.
How to Grow Aji Amarillo in the UK
Equipment
- 4 9 cm pots
- 4 labels
- propagator
Ingredients
- seed compost
- 8 aji amarillo seeds
- water in a spray bottle
Instructions
Sowing Aji Amarillo Seeds and Germination
- Start your seeds indoors, March at the latest. Fill your pots with the compost and lightly flatten down.
- Give each pot about 4 squirts of water.
- Drop 2 seeds in each pot and cover with a fine layer of more seed compost.
- Place in a propagator or on a heated mat. If the propagator has a temperature dial, it wants to be set at 20° Celsius, max 25.Cover with the propagator lid or just place a cardboard over your pots. Germination can take anything from 7 – 21 days, 14 is usually the closer mark for me.
- Keep the compost moist but not wet. Give it a spray every other day but check it every day as you don't want it drying out. My heated mat is a little on the warm side, compared to the propagator, so I have to spray every day.
Planting On
- When your seedlings are sturdy enough to handle, transplant them onto slightly bigger pots. Your 9cm pot should be able to hold the plant for a month or two before it'll need a bigger pot. You need to play it by ear. Check the base. If lots of roots are protruding, it's time to pot on.
- Use a slightly bigger pot to pot on. If you use a pot that's too big, all the energy is going to go into the root system and not the top. So if you started with a 9cm pot, move on to a 13 – 15 cm pot (about 1 litre +).
- Then sometime in May – June (maybe even July if your plant is slow to grow), pot it up to a 5 litre pot (about 23cm top diameter) and place it outside. Don't forget to harden your plant for 2-3 days before moving it out permanently.I like to go for a final pot that's fairly big as the aji amarillo plant does go quite tall with big, heavy fruit. So a solid base is always good.
- I suggest you pinch out the earlier flowering shoots to encourage a bushy growth and a good harvest.
- Water regularly but don't keep your compost wet. Once flowering, feed with a high potash plant food. This, Chilli Focus, is what I use on all my chilli plants from the young plant stage, found on Amazon (affiliate link).
When the temperatures drop
- I bring my aji amarillo pots in once September comes around. As mentioned in the post, it takes ages for them to ripen to that beautiful orange. I've yet to have one ripen before October.
- If you maintain your plants throughout the winter indoors, they'll start flowering, fruiting and ripening earlier. This is something I've only been doing in the last couple of years.You can see a reader suggesting the same thing too.
Peruvian Black Mint Substitute
If you can’t find huacatay, just use equal amounts of coriander and mint leaves. They are not the perfect substitute, but coriander is a staple ceviche herb for many, and together with the mint, will lift any ceviche to another level.
How long to marinate Ceviche with Peruvian Black Mint?
To some extent, this is a matter of preference. I like to “cook” my ceviche for the briefest of time. Essentially, I mix it all up, then serve it. By the time it gets eaten, the fish (or any seafood) has had about 5 minutes of the citrus dance.
If in doubt, go for 10-15 minutes to begin with, then adjust to your taste.
At 10 minutes, the fish is probably at its best state, not overdone, and not having any of the rawness associated with uncooked fish. Some fish do in fact need a longer time, like salmon for eg. Even swordfish, cut thickly, does better with being marinated closer to 10 minutes.
Anything more than 15 minutes, is, to me, overkill. The seafood becomes a solid opaque and starts to feel cottony in your mouth.
How to serve Ceviche with Peruvian Black Mint?
It makes a great starter, or as mentioned above, if you’re doing courses, perfect as an amuse-bouche.
As it’s a starter, you don’t need any accompaniments, as you want to keep your diners hungry. Corn and sweet potato are popular accompaniments though, if you really must.
What I do is just have some bread on the table to soak up the leche de tigre, the ceviche sauce. You can read a brief write-up on leche de tigre on the scallop ceviche post here.
Right then, shall we get our aprons on? Any questions, just drop me a line.
More Ceviche Recipes on LinsFood
If you like the recipe, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you!
And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor.
Lin xx
Ceviche with Peruvian Black Mint (Huacatay)
Ingredients
- 1 large red onion
- 1 – 2 green chillies to taste
- 1 large handful Peruvian Black Mint
- 8 small cherry type tomatoes
- 5 limes, juice extracted
- 1 pinch of salt
- dash of freshly ground black pepper
- 500 g seabass
Garnish
- 1 avocado sliced
- some finely chopped Peruvian black mint
Instructions
- Get a large bowl for everything.
- Halve, then thinly slice the onion. Place in the bowl.
- Finely chop the green chillies, and add them to the bowl.
- Finely chop the Peruvian black mint leaves and thin stalks. Use the thicker stalks. Add to the bowl.
- Chop the tomatoes into tiny pieces and add to the bowl, including any juices.
- Squeeze the lime juice onto all the chopped ingredients in the bowl.
- Add a pinch of salt and a dash of freshly ground black pepper and stir everything up to mix.
- Now, we do the fish. Remove any dark meat on the underside of the fish, we want white meat for the cleanest taste. Then cut up the fish into little cubes, about 1cm (under half an inch) all across.
- Add the fish to the marinade and mix well (with a gentle touch) with 2 spoons, lifting up the ingredients, being careful not to squash the fish and tomatoes.
- Taste, and add more salt if necessary.
- Divide on 4 plates, bowls or glasses, with the sliced avocado alongside, and an extra sprinkle of Huacatay and black pepper.
The Peruvian ceviche never uses HUACATAY OR BALCK MINT, only cilantro. Where do you see the Peruvian ceviche using huacatay or black mint???? hello!!!!! you cant change the traditional recipe.
Of course, the Peruvian Ceviche doesn’t have Huacatay. Which is why the title of the article & recipe says Ceviche WITH Peruvian black mint. Nowhere in this article or recipe do I call this Peruvian Ceviche. Ceviche exists in many other cuisines too, as far away as South East Asia.
One can disagree without being rude, life is so much more pleasant that way.
I’ve always wanted to make ceviche at home. Going to give this a try with coriander and mint as you suggested. Thank you, Azlin.
Let me know how it goes, Jeanette.
I am so in love with this recipe! Tried it today with fresh seabass, it was just perfect with the sauvignon blanc our friends brought. Thank you!
I’m so pleased to hear that Tony.
Well, I got me some huacatay in a pot, I can’t believe it! Planning to make this ceviche on Saturday for friends. Thanks Azlin!
My pleasure. Let me know how it goes.
Very informative post. Just what I was looking for, I loved it very much. Planning to make this soon! Thank you for this. xx
This is just great. I recently came across huacatay here on the south coast of Aus, and have been looking for a recipe for it. Thanks!
My pleasure.