Vegetable Ceviche

Summer will be here before you know it. What better way to get ready for warm summer days, than by coming up with a fun recipe for summer veggies. I personally think this is the most amazing vegetable dish ever. I love veggies and salads, and basically this is a salad presented in a cool, fun and yummy way. 

I first had a vegetable ceviche, last summer. My husband's cousin made a version of it with shredded cabbage, radishes, carrots and tomatoes with lime and salt. It was served on tostada shells with cheese. It was delicious, refreshing and super inventive.  If you are a fan of ceviche with all it's lime-y goodness, you will love this veggie version even though it's not your typical ceviche. I enhanced her dish by adding onions, garlic, avocado and cilantro as well as adding more veggies to punch up the texture and flavor a bit. There's no fish in this dish but I hope that you won't miss it in this veggie version. The best part about this idea is that you can change up the veggies you use depending on what you have on hand and even add tofu or black beans if you want to add some protein. You can also just serve it as a salad without the tosadas. Perfect to bring to a summer BBQ without the worry of it sitting out on a warm day. Enjoy!

Vegetable Ceviche
(Serves 4)

• 4 large florets cauliflower, roasted and finely chopped
• 2-3 Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 5 radishes, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup roasted red peppers, finely chopped
• 2 Persian cucumbers, grated
• 1 /2 cup carrots, grated
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 bunch green onions, finely chopped
• 2 avocados, finely chopped
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped (to taste)
• 1 jalapeno or habenero pepper, seeded and finely minced. 
• juice of 5-8 limes
• 2 T Agave Sweetener
• 1 tsp crushed Mexican oregano
• sea salt to taste
• Corn Tostadas
• Crumbled Cotija Cheese

Preparation
Instead of using raw cauliflower, I roasted it for about 10 minutes to soften the texture and sweeten the vegetable a bit. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly toss cauliflower florets with 1/2 tsp olive oil and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Roast cauliflower for 10 minutes. Cool completely and finely chop.

Cut and prepare all vegetables, garlic and cilantro as noted above and place in a medium sized bowl with lid.

Juice all limes and add to cut up veggies. Add salt to taste and oregano and refrigerate for at least a hour, 2-4 hours are best to allow all the flavors to blend. Drain about half the lime juice and add the agave sweetener and mix well.

Serve on Corn Tostadas with crumbled cotija cheese.