Ceviche, tartare and tiradito, raw fish explained

Ceviche is raw fish cut into cubes and marinated in lime, tiradito is raw fish sliced thin and sauced at the last second, and tartare is raw fish chopped by hand and dressed like a salad. All three are on our menu at Ohana, made to order: the Ceviche Limeño at 5,700 LKR, the Tuna Tartare at 3,400 LKR and the Tuna Tiradito at 3,100 LKR.

What is ceviche?

Ceviche is counted as the national dish of Peru: raw fish in fresh lime juice with sliced onion, chilli and salt. In Lima it comes with boiled sweet potato and corn, and many places pour you a small glass of the marinade itself, which they call leche de tigre, tiger's milk.

The lime changes the fish. Its acid firms the flesh and turns it opaque, so it looks cooked. It is not. No heat has touched it, and the fish is still raw inside its white coat.

The old way was to leave the fish in the lime for hours. The modern way, shaped in the 1970s by Peruvian cooks of Japanese family, takes minutes: the fish meets the lime just before it meets you. That is why a good ceviche is made to order and eaten at once.

What is tiradito?

Tiradito is ceviche's quieter cousin, also from Peru, and it shows the hand of the Japanese families who settled there. The fish is sliced like sashimi, laid flat on the plate, and a sharp, spicy sauce is poured over just before serving.

Two things set it apart from ceviche. The cut: slices, not cubes. And the timing: the sauce arrives at the last moment, so the fish stays fully raw and silky. Many cooks also leave out the onion.

What is tartare?

Tartare began in France as raw beef, chopped fine and seasoned at the table. The name moved to fish later. Tuna tartare is said to have first appeared in a Paris restaurant in 1975.

A fish tartare is chopped by hand, not minced, so each small piece keeps its bite. It is dressed with oil, something sour and something fresh, and served cold with bread or a crisp. It has less acid than a ceviche and tastes more of the fish itself.

How do the three differ, side by side?

• The cut. Ceviche: cubes. Tiradito: thin slices. Tartare: a small hand-cut dice.
• The acid. Ceviche sits in lime for a few minutes. Tiradito only meets its sauce on the plate. Tartare gets a squeeze at the end.
• The feel. Ceviche is firm outside and tender inside. Tiradito is silky. Tartare is soft and rich.
• The heat. Ceviche and tiradito carry chilli by tradition. Tartare does not.
• What comes with it. Ceviche: sweet potato and corn. Tiradito: a little fruit or vegetable for freshness. Tartare: toast.

How is raw fish handled, and who should avoid it?

Honesty first: raw fish is never without risk. Lime juice does not do the work of heat. It changes how the fish looks and feels, but it does not kill what cooking kills.

What careful kitchens do is simple, and you can ask any restaurant about it:

• They buy the freshest fish and keep it cold from the boat to the plate.
• They prepare it to order, in small amounts, and serve it at once. Raw fish does not wait on a counter in the heat.
• Some freeze it first. Food authorities advise fish that has been frozen for eating raw, because freezing kills parasites that may be present. Freezing does not kill every germ, so the cold chain still matters.

How we handle ours: the tuna and the mahi mahi for our raw dishes are frozen before they are served, and each plate is made to order.

Health authorities advise some people not to eat raw or undercooked fish at all: pregnant women, young children, older adults and anyone with a weakened immune system. If that is you, order the same fish cooked. We are cooks, not doctors, and this is not medical advice.

Our three at Ohana

• Ceviche Limeño, 5,700 LKR. Made the Lima way, to order: mahi mahi in just-squeezed lime with red onion and chilli, with shrimps, cold sweet potato, corn and a papadam crisp where Lima would put toasted corn. The menu marks it "A little spicy". It is a plate for one as a light main course.
• Tuna Tiradito, 3,100 LKR. Raw tuna of the day, sliced thin, in our citrus teriyaki of local orange, lime and ginger, with mango, cucumber and red chilli. A little spicy. This is the one to order if you like sashimi.
• Tuna Tartare, 3,400 LKR. Raw tuna cut by hand and dressed with lime and olive oil at the last minute, so it stays deep red. It sits on avocado, under sweet mango, with toasted sourdough, the bread we make here. No chilli. This is the gentle one, and the one to begin with if raw fish is new to you.

There is a fourth, less formal: the Tuna Poke Bowl, 4,500 LKR, Hawaii's raw fish over warm rice, here with a spicy mayo, avocado and a crunch of papadam.

What to drink: a Twilight Fizz, 1,500 LKR, with the tartare, a Karapincha Mojito, 2,200 LKR, with the tiradito, a Spicy Guava, 2,400 LKR, with the ceviche. They are mocktails. We serve no alcohol.

All three raw plates list fish among their allergens, and the tiradito also lists soy and gluten, from its sauce. The ceviche lists crustaceans, because of the shrimps. The rest is on the full menu, which shows every ingredient.

To know the fish before it reaches the plate, read the fish of the south coast. For everything else the kitchen does with the catch, there is a seafood restaurant near Hiriketiya and the page of our seafood restaurant in Dikwella.

Good to know

• The three raw dishes are served at lunch and dinner, from 11:00 to 21:00, every day, when the catch allows.
• Prices are in LKR, plus a 10% service charge. Filtered water is on the house.
• Every dish lists its allergens. Ours is one shared kitchen, so traces cannot be excluded.
• No alcohol is served. Food is not spicy unless the dish says so.
• We are at Turtle Beach, Dikwella, less than five minutes by road from Hiriketiya.