Jun 01 2008
Ceviche de pulpo or octopus ceviche
Published by Laylita at 10:43 am under All, Appetizers, Central America, Ceviches, Hangover cures, Mexico, Seafood, South America
Octopus ceviche was the first ceviche I really liked, I was very picky about seafood when I was a kid, I could only handle a few bites of shrimp or fish (in ceviches or any other dish) and that was it, I found their taste to be overpowering (not anymore though), except ceviche de pulpo, I loved it. The octopus ceviche I remember was perfect, in particular the octopus was just perfectly tender and it had that perfect balance of seafood taste. I’ve always wanted to make octopus ceviche, but it’s hard to find fresh octopus, Whole Foods can order it for you but it will have been frozen, the guys at Pike Place Market told me the only time you can find it fresh is when it is caught by accident, well it just so happens that I was at the market on a day they some, so I snatched up and was so excited to finally make octopus ceviche. However, I have never cooked octopus before, so I did some Google research and found out that it was quite complicated to cook it just right, first you had to pound it with a heavy object, another person mentioned that the secret was to add a cork to the boiling water, another site said to steam it, another one said to boil it for 3 minutes and then alternate with ice water and boiling, so I tried this last suggestion plus the cork, and it was a disaster, my poor beautiful octopus shrunk into a tiny rubbery disgusting brown looking thing. I was determined to have octopus ceviche (and was having a small lunch for some friends), I remembered seeing cooked octopus at Uwajimaya, a local Asian supermarket, so I used it instead.
The ceviche was pretty good and my food tasters (friends) said they liked it (they ate it), but still not even close to my memory of Ecuadorian octopus ceviche; I have assigned my brother Ramon the super important mission of finding the best octopus ceviche on the coast of Ecuador and obtaining the secret to cooking the octopus, hopefully he will succeed and I will have the perfect octopus ceviche recipe by October. Of course if anyone else has it already please share.
Ingredients:
1 ½ lb cooked octopus meat
1 small red onion, thinly sliced, about 1 ½ cups
Juice of 8 limes + 2 juice of limes to pickle onions
2-3 tbs finely chopped cilantro
2 tbs sunflower oil
Salt to taste
Optional: 2-3 hot peppers, serranos or red chilies, seeded and sliced thinly
Serve with: chifles and hot sauce
Preparation:
- Cut the octopus meat into small bit size slices.
- Place the sliced onions in a bowl, add some salt and cover with warm water. Let rest for about 10 minutes, drain and rinse well.
- Place the octopus in a non-reactive container, add the lime juice, ½ of the onions, hot peppers and salt, let marinate for a couple of hours.
- Place the remaining onions in a non-reactive bowl, add the remaining lime juice, some salt and let marinate for a couple of hours.
- Combine the marinating octopus with the pickled onions, the sunflower oil, and the cilantro, mix well. Add additional salt if needed.
- Serve with chifles, patacones, popcorn, or corn nuts.
Looking for a different type of ceviche?
This looks awesome - really fresh, bright and tasty. I might swap out the veg oil for a really good olive oil, but that is just me.
Hi Matt, I’ve tried using olive oil in other types of ceviche (fish, shrimp) and it tends to make it bitter, however I think it might work with the octopus. The day I learn to cook octopus properly I want to try making a very delicious Peruvian dish called “pulpo al olivo”, which is octopus in an olive sauce.
Wow, I’ve died and gone to heaven - gorgeous recipe with photos to match. Yum!
Now, I could be completely, completely wrong on this, but I thought that what was peculiar (and special!) about ceviche, was that is was never cooked with heat, but rather using the acids in the citrus (lime) to “cook” the fish (essentially like pickling it)?
I’m pretty sure that’s why ceviche’s have such a long marinade time? To allow things to really get “cooked” through? Maybe that will help with the octopus?
Dur, never mind! I just actually read the RECIPE rather than just the surrounding post.
It sure looks beautiful, though!!!
Hi Ariel, ceviche made with fish should always be “cooked” in the lime juice, though even then sometimes the fish is immersed in boiling water and then finished off in the lime juice, I’ve seen this done both when time is an issue, the fish is very tough (shark ceviche) or when the fish isn’t as fresh as it should be for ceviche (more likely to happen if you are a city or town that is far away from the beach). Other ceviches that are cooked in lime juice or sometimes not even cooked but just marinated are ceviche de concha – made from black clams – and it is typically prepared right in front of you, as well as oyster ceviche. Other seafood is usually cooked or cooked to the point where it’s almost done before making the ceviche, this is the case for shrimp ceviche (which is cooked in either beer or coconut milk), as well as octopus, squid, chicken (yes there is chicken ceviche). This is just based on ceviches in Ecuador, I’m sure that other Latin countries have different types and ways of preparing ceviche.
Laylita,
I love octopus too, and finally have found a recipe that works like a dream. Follow the simple steps and you will be amazed too.
Here is the link:
http://fishcooking.about.com/od/squidoctopusrecipes/ss/howto_prep_octo.htm
Best of luck, and thank you for your recipe!
Paulie, thanks for the link, I’ll have to try those instructions next time.
My grandmother (a Calabrian who was transplanted to Buenos Aires) always made really great pulpo; it was perfectly tender and mild, even to us kids, who would rather have been eating las hamburguesas.
Your beautiful ceviche looks pretty darn good too!
its a case of the 30-30 rule 30 seconds or 30 min anything else and you will have rubber