Red Mullet Ceviche with Salted Cucumber Caviar

Ceviche (Peruvian, Latin American) is marinated in lime juice or another citrus raw fish or seafood. Protein denaturation occurs under the influence of acid, i.e. the same thing that happens to the product during heat treatment (in the photo, gray shrimps turned pink after being juiced). The difference lies in the preservation of natural taste, healthy composition, and juiciness. Combination with vegetables is an unsurpassed aroma, taste delight, and a long pleasant aftertaste. Those who like spicy can add chili pepper, which will bring the taste of the dish closer to the original Peruvian recipe.

Ingredients

For ceviche (5 servings):

• 800 gr Black Seared mullet (after cutting, about 350 gr fillet remains), it is smaller, Mediterranean – much larger, you can use it
• 200 gr already peeled apple, a medium apple
• 100 gr radish
• salt to taste

For the marinade:

• 150g lime juice
  15 gr soy sauce (if you can find a light one, it will be perfect)

For molecular caviar:

• 500 gr lightly salted cucumbers
• 7-9 gr, 1.5 teaspoon. agar-agar (strong agar may only need 5 grams)
• 1 liter of unscented refined sunflower or corn oil

Directions

Molecular caviar preparation:

1. Put the bottle of vegetable oil in the freezer for at least 1 hour.
2. Squeeze the juice out of the cucumbers: you can do this with a juicer, or you can grind the cucumbers in a vertical blender and squeeze the juice through a cheesecloth or on a fine nylon sieve. I ended up with 250 grams of juice.
3. Remove the vegetable oil from the freezer and pour it from the bottle into a convenient, deep, and narrow container, such as a tumbler from a hand blender. Pour the juice into a small saucepan, add agar-agar and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, boil for 2-3 minutes (if the agar-agar is strong, it is enough to bring to 90 degrees C).
4. Remove the agar-agar solution from the heat, draw the hot liquid into a medical syringe. Drip the cucumber solution into the oil until small spheres are formed. It is important to drip gently, one drop at a time, pressing on the syringe with light movements, otherwise, the spheres will turn out shapeless. If your solution starts to thicken, you can heat it a bit again and continue to form spheres. When the solution is over, discard the contents of the oil in a colander and rinse our caviar with boiled water at room temperature (from the spout of the kettle) to remove the remaining oil. The caviar is ready.

For reinforced water:

1. Simmer 2 pine cones in a double boiler with 500-600 g of water for 40 minutes (putting the cones in the water). Strain the resulting water and use it as a marinade for fish dishes.

Making ceviche:

1. Clean the red mullet from the scales and entrails: the fish have few scales, after removing the entrails, it is important to rinse the fish well to avoid bitterness, dry it on a paper towel. Cut red mullet into fillets, I do it in 3 stages, and cutting each fish takes me 30 seconds. First, we cut off the head. Stage two – we cut the fish along the ridge on one side along the entire length and with one movement of the knife we ​​remove the fillet from the ridge and rib bones. Stage three – turn the fish over and repeat the actions of the second stage, we get the second fillet. Put the finished fillets in one layer on a tray (layered with foil) and send them to the freezer for 20 minutes (if it was frozen by you earlier), without freezing it, it will be difficult to cut it. It is at this stage that it is better to freeze fresh fish fillets for 72 hours at a temp. not less than 18 degrees C, to avoid infection with helminths.
2. While the fish fillet is freezing, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Juice the limes; peel the apple, cut into cubes with a side of 0.5 cm, transfer the apple to a small saucepan and add 2 teaspoon to it. stir the lime juice to keep it from darkening. Peel the radish and cut it in the same way as the apple. Combine lime juice with soy sauce in a small salad bowl.
3. Remove the red mullet fillet from the freezer and cut into small cubes with a side of 0.5 cm.
4. Place a seashell on the serving plate (for each serving), you can ‘glue’ it to the surface of the plate with a piece of butter. Place around the sink 70 g red mullet, 40 g apple, 20 g radish, lightly salt on top to taste, pour 2 tbsp marinade, garnish with molecular caviar, marinate for 15 minutes and serve. If the sink is large, then part of the dish can be placed directly in it.

Enjoy your meal!