Sweet Heat Shrimp Ceviche

I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of super spicy foods. I didn’t grow up eating chiles on a regular basis since it’s not common in Puerto Rican cuisine but I was super excited to develop some recipes with the new dry peppers that Spice Tribe sent my way with my ongoing partnership. I’m a huge fan of ceviche and when I saw the bag of aji amarillo pods, I knew I had to make some.

Aji amarillo peppers are native to the Andes and are spicy, fruity, and sweet. They’re very common in Peruvian cuisine (along with ceviche) and across Latin America. Because I’m not accustomed to eating very spicy things (I made a hot sauce with just the peppers to first try them out and I couldn’t hang, haha), I decided to mellow the peppers out a bit with one of my favorite fruits: passion fruit. Talk about a tropical moment y’all!

There are a lot of flavors and components going on in this recipe, but they all work very well together. I suggest multitasking here, you can make the sauce and boil the sweet potato while the shrimp marinates in the citrus juices so everything can be done at once. Or if you prefer, you can make the sauce ahead of time and make the ceviche the next day. Most of the work for this recipe is making the sauce and cutting the vegetables and since ceviche isn’t cooked, once you finish that you’re in the home stretch. Not to bad! Pro tip: I don’t recommend eating any leftovers of this; ceviche is meant to be eaten immediately and doesn’t really hold up well the next day. The shrimp gets rubbery and mushy with too much acid the next day.

Sweet Heat Ceviche

Cook time: 35 minutes

Serves: 2-4

Shrimp Ceviche

1lb large raw shrimp, peeled, de-veined, halved and quickly poached (see note)

4 limes, juiced 

1 large lemon, juiced 

1 large navel orange, juiced 

Large pinch kosher salt

Aji Amarillo Sauce

2 Spice Tribe Aji Amarillo chiles, ends cut, split, and seeds removed 

1 cup passion fruit juice or nectar (see note)

Zest of 1 lime

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 green onions, chopped 

Large pinch kosher salt

Small splash red wine vinegar 

Small drizzle honey 

Accompanying Vegetables and Garnishes

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and boiled 

1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced and soaked in ice water (see note)

5 cocktail tomatoes, quartered and salted (see note)

1 cucumber, seeds removed and sliced into half moons 

Extra virgin olive oil, for garnish

Plantain chips or croutons, for garnish

Note: I had fresh passion fruit juice on hand, so that’s what I used. I usually find cans or cartons of it at international markets.To make a quicker batch of ceviche without having to wait for the citrus juice to “cook” the shrimp, you can quickly poach them in boiling water for a few seconds. Once the edges start to turn pink, remove from the water immediately and shock them in an ice bath. Remove from the ice bath and set aside. As for the red onions, soaking them in ice water helps remove some of the bite. And salting the tomatoes helps draw out excess liquid.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the partially poached shrimp, lime juice, lemon juice, and orange juice. Sprinkle with a large pinch of kosher salt and toss together. Cover and place in the fridge to marinate.

While the shrimp are hanging out in the fridge, peel and boil the sweet potato until fork tender. This should take about 25-30 minutes, which is enough time for the shrimp to marinate well with the citrus juices. 

To make the aji amarillo sauce, combine the de-seeded chiles, passion fruit juice or nectar, lime zest, garlic cloves, and green onions in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer the sauce until it’s reduced by half and the peppers are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Let the sauce cool completely before running through a food processor or high speed blender. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer. Taste and adjust seasoning with kosher salt, a splash of red wine vinegar, and honey for additional sweetness. This will be to your liking and heat tolerance. Pour the strained sauce into a small container or squeeze bottle and place in the fridge uncovered to cool down further.

By now, the shrimp has had enough time to marinate in the citrus juices. Drain the salted tomatoes and combine with the sliced red onion and cucumber. Toss the vegetables together with the marinated shrimp and set aside.

To serve the ceviche, place a large spoonful of the aji amarillo sauce on the bottom of a plate. Add two or three slices of the boiled sweet potato on top of the sauce and using a slotted spoon, plate the ceviche on top of the sweet potatoes. Drizzle a little more aji sauce all over along with some extra virgin olive oil. Crumble plantain chips on top or shake a few plantain croutons on the ceviche. Enjoy immediately!