About this recipe
Raw fish cut into cubes and dressed with vinegar, ginger, onion and chilli, eaten within minutes of being made. The souring agent is vinegar — coconut or cane — rather than citrus alone, which is the clearest difference from ceviche, and the fish is dressed rather than marinated: it is meant to stay translucent and firm, not to turn opaque and chalky. Kinilaw belongs to coastal communities across the Visayas and Mindanao, where it is made with whatever has just been landed. Some versions are finished with coconut milk; others use the tabon-tabon fruit, which is difficult to find outside the country.
Recipe facts
- Yield
- 4 servings as an appetiser
- Prep
- 25 minutes (plus 30 minutes chilling)
- Cook
- No cooking
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- Medium
Allergens Contains fish. Raw seafood dish — see the food-safety guidance.
Development draft. This is an untested development recipe from the cookbook project. It has not been kitchen-tested, and the quantities and timings are the author’s working draft rather than a verified result.
Ingredients
The fish
- 1 lb (450 g) skinless Spanish mackerel (tanigue) or yellowfin tuna loin, sashimi grade, well chilled
- 1 tsp (6 g) salt
The dressing
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) coconut vinegar, or cane vinegar
- 2 in (5 cm) fresh ginger, cut into very fine matchsticks
- 1 medium red onion, sliced paper thin
- 4-6 red bird's eye chillies (siling labuyo), sliced thin
- 1/2 tsp (1 g) ground black pepper
- 1 tsp (6 g) salt, or to taste
Optional finishes
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) coconut cream, for a kinilaw sa gata
- 1 small cucumber, seeded and diced fine
- 2 calamansi, halved, for squeezing at the table
Equipment
- Very sharp knife
- Non-reactive glass or ceramic bowl
- Fine strainer
Method
- Cut the chilled fish into even 3/4 in (2 cm) cubes, discarding any bloodline or sinew. Keep it over a bowl of ice while you work.
- Toss the cubes with the 1 tsp salt and leave 5 minutes, then drain off the liquid that has been drawn out. This firms the surface.
- Rinse the fish briefly with about 1/4 cup (60 ml) of the vinegar, then drain it away through the strainer and discard it. This rinse takes away the strongest raw-fish smell.
- Put the drained fish in the non-reactive bowl. Add the ginger, red onion, chillies, black pepper and the 1 tsp salt.
- Pour over the remaining 1/2 cup (120 ml) vinegar and turn gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes — no longer, or the fish stiffens and goes chalky.
- Taste and adjust the salt. It should be sharply sour, clearly salty and hot from the chillies.
- For a kinilaw sa gata, fold through the coconut cream now, which softens the acidity considerably. Fold in the cucumber at the same time if using.
- Serve immediately, cold, in a shallow dish with plenty of the dressing, and with calamansi halves for squeezing.
From the foundations
The book pairs this recipe with the following, from the sauces, sambals and pastes that open the collection.
The Complete Edition
Kinilaw (Cured Raw Fish) sits in the Philippines chapter
The book carries this recipe in full alongside the rest of the Philippines chapter, the pastes and dips it is built on, and the twenty-seven pantry studies that open the collection.
In review with Amazon KDP
Both editions have been submitted to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and are currently in review. Submitted prices are $9.99 for the kindle edition and $49.99 for the paperback. Neither is on sale yet, and prices are as submitted rather than final.