The difference between Peruvian Ceviche with our local Sabah Hinava is Bitter Gourd

Hinava is a traditional native dish of the Kadazan-Dusun people and is called ceviche in english. A very simple recipe-perfect as a flavorful appetizer or a light, healthy meal. 

The difference between western ceviche with our local Hinava is the bitter gourd. 

Hinava is made from raw fish and mixed with lime juice, bird's eye chili, sliced shallots, grated ginger and thin slices of raw bitter gourd. If you do not like the bitter gourd then you can omit it from your recipe and replace it with diced tomatoes.

To reduce the bitterness, marinate the bitter gourd for one hour with 1 teaspoon of salt. 

I bought my huge 2kg Spanish Mackerel (Tengiri) fresh from the local fish market. There was nothing smaller than 2kg. I only used half the flesh and the other half was used to make fish balls.

After cleaning, I blanched the fish flesh with hot water to remove bacteria on the outside. The high amount of acid in a typical ceviche coming from citrus juice will cook the fish without any heat. If you are still worried about the parasite you have the option of poaching the fish slices before marinating them.

However in my opinion once you poached the fish slices then it is no longer a Hinava.

Ingredient

500g fish flesh

50g ginger

50g shallots

50g bitter gourd soak in 1 tsp salt

125ml lime juice

1 tsp salt

2 tsp sugar

Mixed all the ingredients and let sit covered in the refrigerator for an hour. Keep stirring, making sure more of the fish gets exposed to the acidic lime and lemon juices. Let sit for several more hours, giving time for the flavors to blend.

During the marinating process, the fish will change from pinkish and translucent to whiter in color and opaque.