Mushroom Ceviche with Sweet Potato (Vegan)

Before we moved to the Netherlands, Mr N and I travelled around Peru. For the most part, the food was nothing to write home about (apart from the cakes - but that's a blog post in itself). But there was one dish that really struck a chord with us: ceviche.

Traditionally, ceviche is raw fish, mixed with red onion and lime juice. It's a staple all over the west coast of Peru - we saw it sold everywhere from fancy restaurants to roadside stalls. It was reputedly excellent, but our vegetarianism meant that we had to forego the experience. Fortunately, our handy travel guide recommended Bircher Benner, a vegetarian restaurant in the Miraflores district, which made the dish with mushrooms instead of raw fish. Our love for the concept of mushrooms and lime juice was born.

Tonight, Mr N had his first attempt at recreating our South American experience of a mushroom ceviche. Except instead of recreating it, he decided to make a better version. I was dubious, but I have to admit that it was amazing, and the colour that was added with the sweet potato made it look ace. Definitely a winner.

Mushroom Ceviche with Sweet Potato (serves 2 people)

Ingredients
Some white mushrooms ("I just cut up as much as I thought we would want to eat." - Mr N)
1 medium-sized red onion
A few cups of spinach (Mr N: "Two handfuls...or...well, you know, some.")
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 tsp hot chilli sauce
1 tsp agave syrup
4 limes
Pinch of salt
2 handfuls green beans (Me: "How many beans?" Mr N: "I don't know.")
2 sweet potatoes
Juice of 1/2 a lemon


Method
1. Cut up the mushrooms into slices - however you like them best. Place in a bowl.
2. Dice the red onion finely and add to the mushrooms.
3. Roughly chop the spinach and add to the mushrooms and onion.
4. In a small bowl or mug, whisk the olive oil, hot sauce, agave syrup and juice of the limes, plus a pinch or so of salt.
5. Add this mixture to the mushrooms, onion and spinach, and mix.
6. Slice the sweet potatoes into slabs (Mr N cut them lengthways, into slices about 0.5cm thick). Place in a pan of boiling water and boil until cooked (15 minutes approx).
7. While the sweet potato is boiling, cut the green beans into 3-4cm pieces. Place into a sieve. When the sweet potato has about 5 minutes to go, place the sieve over the pan to steam the beans.
8. Squeeze the juice of the lemon over the beans. Some of it will go through into the pan...delicious.
9. Take the beans off the heat and stir them into the mushroom mix.
10. Drain the sweet potato.
11. Lay the sweet potato slices onto each plate. Cover with the mushroom ceviche.
12. Eet smakelijk!