This is a wonderful dish for a hot summer day, as either an appetizer or a main course. It’s full of fresh ingredients from the garden with light fish, high in vitamins and protein and low in carbs and fat. I’ve used tilapia here, though you can use shrimp, salmon, or other fish that you have available.

What makes this especially great for a hot day is that you don’t even need to cook it. The acidity of the lime juice does the work of “cooking” the fish through a chemical process called protein denaturation — meaning that the fish proteins go through a similar process to cooking without the heat. You can even see this by comparing the photo above of the finished ceviche with the photo below, taken ten minutes after mixing.

After chopping and mixing the ingredients, you just need to let it go through its process for about 45 minutes before adding the avocado and serving. I’ve adapted my recipe from this one.

1 lb. chopped fish (tilapia, shrimp, etc., i.e., ~4 tilapia filets)
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
3/4 c. lime juice (you can swap in a bit of yuzu for a little twist here)
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
1/2 c. cilantro, chopped
1 c. tomatoes, diced finely
1 c. cucumber, diced finely
1 firm avocado

Mix the onion, salt, pepper, and lime juice first. Add everything else except the avocado and let the whole thing sit for at least 45 minutes. Add the avocado and adjust the salt just before serving.

Serve with tortilla chips or wide romaine leaves if you really want to cut carbs.