Easy recipe to make Peruvian salmon tiradito with passion fruit aji sauce. This mouthwatering dish features sashimi style salmon topped with a spicy passion fruit aji amarilllo sauce, pickled red onions, and chopped cilantro.
3-4Peruvian spicy yellow hot peppers aka aji amarilloif you can’t find fresh ones you can use canned or frozen ones – if you can't find any aji amarillo you can use red fresno chilies (add a piece of a habanero chili if they’re not spicy enough)
¾cuppure passion fruit juiceno sugar or water added, you can use the frozen concentrate if you can’t get fresh passion fruits - (¾ cup = 175 ml)
1/3cupoiluse a neutral oil like avocado or sunflower - (1/3 cup = 75 ml)
The juice of ½ lime
Salt to taste
For the lime pickled onions:
1large red onion or 2 small red onions
The juice of 2 limes
Salt to taste
1tablespoonof diced aji amarillo hot peppercan also use habanero for a spicier touch – optional and to taste
Chopped fresh cilantro to decorate
Instructions
To make the passion fruit aji sauce:
Boil the ajíes or chiles in a small pot with 1 liter of water for about 10 to 15 minutes. Even if you are using fresh, frozen or canned whole ajíes you should still boil them – unless they already have the skin and seeds/veins removed.
Put the hot peppers in a bowl with ice water so they can cool down.
Use gloves to peel the hot peppers, the skin will come off easily. Also cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds and veins – you can also do this with the gloves on, just pull out the veins and seeds directly using your hands.
If you want to add a some diced aji amarillo to the pickled onions, you can dice ¼ of one (should get about 1 tablespoon) and save it.
Blend the peeled and deveined hot peppers with the passion fruit juice, the oil, a pinch of salt, and the lime juice until you obtain a smooth and creamy sauce.
Taste and add additional salt if needed. The sauce can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to serve the tiradito. You will likely have leftover sauce, it works great as a spicy dipping sauce for plantain chips or on top of grilled pork/fish/shrimp.
To prepare the lime pickled onions:
Cut the onions in half, then slice them very thinly – use a very sharp knife or mandoline slicer if you have one.
Put the onion slices in a bowl with a little salt and a splash of lime juice, cover them with cold water and let stand for about 10 minutes.
Rinse and wash the onion slices under cold water.
Put the washed onion slices in a small bowl and add the rest of the lime juice and a ½ teaspoon of salt. Let stand for at least 15 minutes. You can also add the diced aji amarillo or yellow hot pepper if you like. Mix well, taste and adjust the amount of salt if necessary.
To prepare the salmon tiradito:
Put the salmon fillet in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Use a very sharp knife to slice the salmon. You can sprinkle a dash of salt on top.
Put the fish slices on a plate and drizzle the passion fruit aji sauce on top.
Add some lime pickled onions on top. You can also decorate it with chopped cilantro.