Snapper Ceviche with Cucumber and Seaweed

Recipe by: Leslie Brenner

The hallmark of Peruvian leche de tigre (“tiger’s milk”) ceviches is their umami, which smooths out the harshness of the fresh lime juice that “cooks” the fish. Tiger’s milk is a savory, milky broth made by simmering fish bones and trimmings with aromatics and blending that with some of the trimmings, plus a little lime juice and salt. Most home cooks don’t have easy access to fish bones, so I came up with an analogous method that inspired by Japan: Use dashi in place of tiger’s milk to smooth out the lime in a ceviche and add umami. The advantage is that dashi can be made in about 10 minutes, and you can freeze the rest or use it to make quick miso soups at lunchtime.

I also borrowed a trick for making raw onions less harsh from Ecuadorian ceviche tradition called desflemado. To do this, toss sliced onions with salt, cover with hot water, let it sit 5 minutes, drain and rinse. Voilà: softer-tast…