Headed out to the Channel Islands this weekend for a little backpacking and fishing. Ever the optimist, I’d like to bring a bottle of leche de tigre . Most recipes call for fish stock or pureed fish but I’m wondering if just a combo of lime, garlic, green onion and aji might do the trick.
Can I substitute relatively more shelf stable clam juice? I don’t do ceviche at home so I’m out of my element. Ideally I’d like to end up with a usable mix that I can keep in a nalgene for 2-3 days at room temperature and still get a nice result.
Also, I don’t know of any peruvian markets in LA. Any idea where I could pick up some aji?
Hm, I’m afraid I’ve never ventured to that neighborhood for aji. I’ve moseyed around that Northgate and I don’t recall seeing it but we probably weren’t looking, either. Good luck!
That’s exactly what Lethe de Tigre is. A little bit of fish from the ceviche puréed with the lime, aromatics, salt, and aji at its most basic.
You can find aji Amarillo peppers in jars or frozen (amazonas brand). You can also find them as purées. Northgate, food4less, jons, are bigger chains that carry them.
Honestly it’s something you really have to make on the spot. It doesn’t take long in a blender.
Famous LA Peruvian chef Ricardo Zarate taught me trick of using few ice cubes into the mix and then use immediately.
Northgate in culver city ended up having aji amarillo - both paste and frozen (found the frozen peppers after an employee told me they didn’t stock them - ha!)
Spent all last week test kitchening a field ceviche. Hiked 14.5 miles over Santa Rosa Island with a red onion, tomatillos, various peppers, a stack of tostadas and nalgenes of frozen lime juice, clam juice, tequila and aji paste. Didn’t realize with all the time spent off-loading that we’d pull into our destination beach just before dark. The frozen lime juice got put to fine use with our stash of tequila, sotol and mezcal though. We all went to bed feeling less (if not no) pain.
Had to hike back to the other side of the island the next day. We had no time to fish until the morning of day 3 so on the 2nd night I ended up making a ziploc salsa fresca to go with the tostadas.
It was fine and tasty but I learned a good lesson about letting my outdoor cookery imagination get carried away. Would have rather not been carrying those extra pounds on what ended up being a difficult hike - since we had to to carry two days worth of water as well.
I only did a couple things differently - used Chilean sea bass (fishmonger had no halibut), fresh green garlic instead of regular, added a few slices of avocado, because Angeleno. I also found the Aji Amarillo paste and added a few dabs… I’ll use more next time. Thanks @hppzz!
Thanks 