I feel extremely thankful that my mom introduced me to many foods at a young age! My palate became diverse very early in my life. When most children are asking for candy I was asking for ceviches and shrimp cocktails. Although we had ponds where we fished in my village, my favorite ceviche was still from the street stands in the small town near us.
We would travel many miles of dirt road, often by foot, then caught a ride from a family member and traveled some more to get to the nearest town. It was an entire day’s jouney. While my mom shopped for spices and groceries that we didn’t have in the village, my older sister Lorena and I would sit and eat ceviches and shrimp cocktails from a street vendor my mom trusted. I was only three but I appreciated every flavor and emotion that came from indulging in the best ceviche I’ve ever had.
When I became vegetarian I had to say goodbye to ceviche. While I don’t ever crave beef, poultry, or any other kind of meat I do often miss fish, specially ceviche and shrimp cocktails. While talking to my sister Lorena the other day, she shared that a friend of friend had used textured soy to make a ceviche. We didn’t have a recipe but we sat on the phone and shared ideas on how to make it. So, here is my version of a vegan ceviche with a lot of input from another amazing home cook: my sister Lorena!
As a side note: I find it so refreshing that my sister has shared the same love of food that our mom shared with us, with my niece. Since she was only 2 she was already eating sushi and would look at octopus and say “Yum, Pulpo.” Thank you Lorena for being an inspiration.
Yields: approximately 8 tostadas
Ingredients for dehydrated soy:
1 cup dehydrated soy flakes
1/4 white onion
2 garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
6 peppercorns
2 teaspoons coarse salt
Ingredients for ceviche:
1/2 white onion
2 roma tomatoes
1 cup cilantro
2 serrano chiles
3 limes
2 teaspoons salt (or less)
3 avocados
Ingredients for tostadas:
8 Tortillas
1/4 cup oil
Cooking soy
- Bring 8 cups of water to a boil.
- Add onion, garlic cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns, and coarse salt.
- Boil for about 5 minutes and add dehydrated soy.
- Cook for about 7-10 minutes so that the flavor can be absorbed.
While the tofu is cooking work on the rest of the ingredients.
- Chop the tomato, onion, serrano chiles, and cilantro.
- Place the chopped ingredients into a food processor.
- Pulse three times, mix, then pulse another three times. The ingredients should be a little larger than minced.
- Remove ingredients from food processor into a large mixing bowl (glass or plastic).
- By this time the soy should be cooked. Therefore, remove onion, garlic, and peppercorns and drain completely. You don’t want any juice to remain.
- Add the hydrated soy to the bowl and add the lime juice and salt to taste. Mix well.
- Allow ceviche to cool in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.
You can eat this with corn chips or tostadas. I prefer to make my own tostadas at home to avoid crazy ingredients or preservatives. Here is how:
- Bring oil to 350 degrees.
- Slowly and carefully place a cold tortilla into the oil.
- Press down with a spatula, to cook evenly, for about 30 seconds.
- Flip tortilla and press down with spatula for approximately 30 seconds. Tortilla should be crispy and golden on both sides.
- Remove from oil and place in paper towels to absorb remaining oil.
Now all you have to do is plate your tostadas as you wish.
- I like to put a little bit of Mexican lime mayo or crema (but that will make them not vegan of course) on my tostada first.
- Spread the ceviche on the tostada.
- Add slices of avocado.
Provecho!!
Feel free to post your comments or questions.
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