Coconut Ceviche (Vegan Recipe)

I used to love watching Food Network. But with kids running around it has become almost impossible to watch any TV. Now a days I found the best time to watch my favorite channel is when I'm folding the laundry. So during one of my laundry folding session, I saw a new cooking show on Cooking Channel. It's called 'How to Live to 100' with Jason Wrobel as the host. I really liked the way how the host took a ingredient, transformed it into 3~4 different dishes and then talked about the benefits of using the ingredient.

In the episode I watched, Jason took Coconut as the ingredient and made this Vegan Ceviche using flesh from young coconut. It sounded delicious and looked pretty easy to make. So on my next grocery trip, I bought a young coconut and made this right away. It tasted great with tortilla chips or just as is.

Ceviche is usually made with seafood and is quite popular in South & Central America. This dish is typically made with fresh raw fish that is flavored with lime/ lemon and spiced with aji or chili peppers.

Young coconut has texture similar to fresh fish and it takes on flavors that are added to it, hence is a great vegan substitute in ceviche.

Ingredients: Serves 2~3
Young Coconut - 1
Lime juice - 2tbsp
Orange juice - 1tbsp
Green Onions - 2, chopped
Tomato - 1 medium, chopped
Cucumber - 1 small, diced
Jalapeno - 1 small, deseeded and chopped
Green Pepper - 1tbsp, seeded and chopped
Avocado - ½ of  1, chopped
Fresh Parsley - 2tbsp, finely chopped
Cilantro - 1tbsp, chopped
Cayenne - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Tortilla Chips - to serve

Method:

I found removing the flesh from the young coconut a little difficult and too my husband's help. Here are the instructions given on Cooking channel verbatim: 'With a cleaver, make four identical cuts on the top of each coconut, forming a square; then "pop" open the tops using the back of the cleaver blade. Pour the coconut water into a glass storage jar and refrigerate for later use. Now, with a swift chop, crack the coconuts in half. Pry out the coconut meat using the backside of a large spoon'. Next time I'm planning to use this method.

Wash the flesh and chop into ½" pieces and transfer them to a mixing bowl.

Add all the other ingredients, except for avocado and tortilla chips, and mix well.

Finally add avocado just before serving. Serve immediately with tortilla chips or refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour before serving.

Linking this to Valli's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge: March -- Week 4'.

Also linking to Fabulous Feast Friday# 7, being hosted this week by Usha & Me.