Young Coconut Ceviche

Here’s my first confession… I was a vegetarian for so long that I’ve never actually had ceviche with fish. I am always jealous of people sitting on the beach dipping their lovely tortillas in something other than salsa or guacamole (no disrespect to the guac). I compared a few recipes and have had some pretty good fish alternative meals made with fresh coconut, so I thought this would be a great way to get more coconut in my mouth. This is how we made it:

Ingredients:

2 fresh young coconuts or 1 bag frozen coconut meat, thawed and coarsely chopped

½ onion, coarsely chopped

1 large tomato, coarsely chopped

½ cucumber, coarsely chopped

1 avocado, coarsely chopped

1 jalapeno or serrano, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 limes, juiced

½ bunch cilantro, chopped

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp cumin

⅛ tsp freshly ground pepper

Instructions:

Here’s my second confession… I used frozen coconut meat partially because I felt like I won the lottery when I found a frozen bag in a local grocery store, and partially because the last time I tried to cut up a coconut I almost lost a hand. And then the coconut had mold and I just gave up. If you would like to cut your own coconut, please look up your own directions and tell me how you did it! Then send me pictures proving you still have both of your hands.

Moving on. In a large mixing bowl, add your coconut meat, onion, tomato, avocado, cucumber, spicy pepper, garlic, lime juice, cilantro, salt, cumin and pepper. Give it a good stir, but be gentle with that delicate avocado! We all know how much time you spent making sure this was the right day for your avocado, so don’t eff it up now!

That’s it! Now serve that ceviche on tortilla chips and with a big ole margarita!