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Hinava: Ceviche Sabahan Style

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Two of the same kind

Yes, they are the same. Or almost. If there are dissimilarities, it's probably in the ingredients or the side dishes that complement it's flavors.
Hinava is Sabahan in origin, or at least that's what the Kadazandusun community in Sabah claims. It is one of their many traditional delicacies and undoubtedly the most popular.
The origin of ceviche, a popular dish in the coastal regions of the Americas, is shrouded in history but Wikipedia puts the Polynesian islands in the South Pacific as one possible origin, and Sabah is quite close to the South Pacific. So ceviche could have come from Sabah. Or maybe it's the other way round? But we are not talking about history or geography, instead we are talking about hinava, a dish so popular that most hotels in Sabah have it on their buffet menu.

Like ceviche, hinava is made from raw fish. Unlike sushi, hinava can be prepared in less time. And we are going to show you how.
The main ingredient in hinava is fresh fish, but you can also use shrimps or young squids. Just make sure they're really fresh. If you opt for fish then salmon, mackerel or tuna are the best.

Here we show you a few variants of hinava and how to make them. Notice that there is not much difference among them which gives you no reason not to try fish of different specie. Just make sure they're fresh.

Mackerel Hinava

Ingredients

1 kg king fresh mackerel fillet, skin on and cut into strips or small cubes
Juice from 10 limes
3 to 4 small red shallots, sliced or chopped finely
2 inches ginger, finely julienned
2 large chilies, cut into fine strips
4 to 6 small chilies, cut finely
1 small bitter gourd, cut into very thin short slices and marinated in brine for 15 minutes

Preparation

1. There are 3 ways to prepare the fish:
a) Pour boiling water over the fish in a bowl and drain well. This is probably the best way,
b) Put fish into a pot of boiling water for a few seconds then immediately drain well. You wouldn't want the fish to be cooked because if you do your hinava will end up mashed.
c) This is the traditional way: soak the fish in the lime juice for 10 minutes. But if you do it this way you will need to have more lime juice than you can get from 10 limes. So the alternative is to use vinegar and soak the fish a little longer, say for 20 minutes. The citric acid or vinegar will 'cook' the fish on the outside but leaving the inside raw.
2. Wash the salted bitter gourd twice with plenty of water to remove the bitterness and some of the salt. It should still taste slightly bitter and saltish.
3. Mix the fish with the lime juice and leave 10 minutes.
4. Mix everything together and add more salt and lime juice to your liking. If you run out of lime juice by now, use rice or sushi vinegar.
5. Chill in fridge till ready to eat.

Salmon Hinava

Ingredients

500 grams fresh salmon
2 large onions cut into small chunks
3-4 inches ginger, finely sliced
10 small limes or any lime
4 Red chili, deseeded and sliced lengthways. Place sliced chili in water
Spring onions or parsley leaf for garnishing
1 cup Vinegar with which to rinse the raw fish
salt and MSG to taste

Preparation

1. Skin and debone fish. Cut into small chunks about 2 cm square.
2. Marinade fish with vinegar and salt, and drain out excess. Put fish in refrigerator for about 1 hour but do not freeze.
3. Add parsley leaf, spring onion and ginger to fish and mix. Do this gently.
4. Add salt to taste.
5. Sprinkle MSG
6. Squeeze lime juice onto fish and mix thoroughly but gently.
7. Garnish with sliced chili and spring onions before serving.
8. Serve with chilled white wine or a Scotch as chaser or as a side dish with rice.

Shrimp Hinava

Ingredients

1 Ib fresh shrimps (medium size)
1 cup of lime juice
4-5 red chilies (sliced)
6 cloves red onion (finely sliced)
2 tsp salt
1 inch ginger, finely juliened

Preparation

1. Peel off shrimp shell and take off the head. Wash and clean it.
2. Cut (split) each shrimp from end to end.
3. Place it inside a basin and marinate it with salt for a minute.
4. Pour lime juice, add in the other ingredients and mix gently.
5. Chill in refrigerator for about 30 minutes before serving.

Now you know how easy it is to prepare hinava. What's that you say? Yes you are eating raw fish. But no worries because the fish gets cooked in the lime and vinegar.
Hinava is traditionally eaten as a side dish with steamed rice or when drinking wine and spirits.

The following video is a little blurry but it's not mine so I cant do anything to make it better. However it will give you some idea about how to prepare hinava. My thanks to the people who made the video.
DST- Sabah 07/08 - Hinava Making
by MSCMalaysiaDST | video info

3 ratings | 543 views
curated content from YouTube

See more varieties of hinava here, here and here.

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Thank you for visiting. Comments are much appreciated

  • blackspanielgallery May 20, 2012 @ 1:28 pm | delete
    Salads are always great.
  • oztoo Oct 19, 2011 @ 7:38 pm | delete
    The Philippines have a similar dish called Killaween (not sure about the spelling). Its very tasty. Thanks for sharing your hinava recipes.
  • non_sequitur Oct 19, 2011 @ 11:41 pm | delete
    Thank you for visiting.
  • TravelingRae Sep 10, 2011 @ 11:56 am | delete
    I recently had a very nice ceviche made with scallops and lime juice. Very refreshing.
  • non_sequitur Oct 19, 2011 @ 11:41 pm | delete
    Thanks for visiting my lens.
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