Aguachile

This recipe is mostly found on the Pacific coast of Mexico in the town of Mazatlán, Sinaloa, which is famous for its seafood.

Aguachile translates into “chilli-water” in English. It mainly consists of raw fresh prawns that have been cleaned and deveined, then briefly cooked in lime juice and covered in a spicy marinade. This marinade would usually be prepared with very spicy chillies like serranos, habanero or jalapenos, some more lime juice, olive oil, and also coriander. The aguachile is then garnished with fresh cucumber slices and red onion.

Aguachile is normally served with tostadas (crispy tortillas) or salted crackers on the side, so it’s perfect when paired with Gran Luchito Lightly Salted Tortilla Chips and a very cold beer! It’s a similar dish to ceviche but much spicier, and is normally served straight away, whereas ceviche is left to marinate for longer.  When making aguachile we recommend preparing it nearer the time it’s being served – the fresher the seafood the better!

When preparing ceviche or aguachile, a Mexican seafood recipe where the prawns or fish will be used raw, it’s always good to buy your ingredients from a good source like a local fishmonger or over-the-counter at the supermarket, rather than pre-packed prawns. But for those of you who may feel a bit funny about eating raw seafood, you can prepare this recipe with pre-cooked prawns.

For our aguachile recipe, we added our special blend of Gran Luchito Medium Taco Seasoning into the marinade. You can also try this same marinade with Gran Luchito Chipotle Paste or Gran Luchito Spicy Taco Seasoning for a slightly different taste.

This beautiful recipe is perfect served as an appetizer or snack alongside drinks on a very hot summer’s day!