Vegan ceviche & how to open a young thai coconut

This recipe is inspired by a dish on the new menu of my favorite restaurant in San Francisco, the Seed + Salt. I’ve been there 3 times, which seems not many, but needing almost 2 hours to reach the place I think is a quite good number. Public transports have the “pole pole” rule, in Swahili meaning something like “there’s no need to hurry, we have a life-long time to spend”. Sometimes to go from the point A to the B you take the same amount of time by bus or walking. Btw, this restaurant is a super valid reason to waste those 4 hours for the round-trip travel; it’s also located in Marina District, one of my favorite neighborhoods of the city. The last time I ordered the coconut ceviche, a slice of chocolate banana bread – simply DE-LI-CIOUS – and a mug of hot coffee. I then start dreaming about that ceviche waiting to replicate it at home.

To open the coconut I used a wonderful knife I bought in China Town at The Wok Shop, discovered reading Heidi Swanson – which I bumped into while going to the Painted Ladies last December, but I was so excited that I forgot her name and therefore I couldn’t be able to stop her. And honestly, what could I ask her, to make a selfie with me? Ew, I hate selfies and I respect famous people too much. Anyway, if you’re coming to San Francisco you HAVE to visit that shop. It’s so full of props and the owner and her collaborator are so passionate that they can go on talking about woks for half an hour. I went there mainly to buy a new chef knife since when I arrived here I bought a cheap one at Ikea and I was craving for something more. I asked them for a suggestion, I told them I use it for veggies only and I need a pointed tip to be able to poke it in a kabocha squash and they gave me this one – just 7 $. It cuts everything wonderfully, even tomatoes, which are usually as**oles and require a peculiar knife.

THE RECIPE

I used an amount too big of ingredients for 1 coconut and its delicate and delicious flavor almost disappeared. I so changed the recipe lowering the quantities, so if your bowl doesn’t look like mine, it’s totally ok. For the pepper, pick one with a Scoville score following your taste and your spiciness tolerance – check it here.

[1 serving]

1 young thai coconut – yielded 125 g of meat and more than 400 ml of water
1/2 little avocado, diced
1 tbsp chopped cucumber
1 tbsp chopped tomato
1 tbsp chopped red onion
1 tbsp chopped pepper – see notes 
1 garlic clove, grated
1 pinch himalayan salt
1 pinch black pepper
1/2 lime, juiced
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

First thing first, open the coconut – you can see the process through my photos – pouring its water in a jar and remove its pulp with a spoon. Cut the meat in stripes and put it in a bowl.

Add all the other ingredients to the bowl, stir well and set in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Serve the ceviche cool or let it reach room temperature before serving.

I mixed a slice of fresh pineapple, some basil leaves and the juice of 1/2 lime into the coconut water to match the ceviche. Prepare it and let it sit in the fridge for the same amount of time of the main plate to obtain a stronger exotic flavor.

 

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