Think of ceviche as something like poke. If you must. Because, really, ceviche is its own category of food, a raw-fish concoction that uses citrus juice to cure the fish so that it no longer seems uncooked — unlike poke, which in most forms is proudly raw.

That’s not an exclusive definition, though. Like poke, sometimes ceviche is made with cooked seafood. But it definitely doesn’t carry the soy-based flavor profile of most poke.

Chopped vegetables — tomatoes, cucumber, jicama, onions and avocado, for example — often are mixed in, and sometimes fruit.

“Ceviche is one of those dishes you can use anything you want, and acid from any citrus,” said Miriam Olivas.

Olivas is serious about ceviche. She’s studied traditional Mexican versions of the dish while traveling in that country. And last year she opened a restaurant, Ceviche House in Wahiawa, devoted to this one dish.

Her menu has nine versions of ceviche, some with fish (pescado), shrimp (camaron) and octopus (pulpo). The bases are citrus, tamarind, Clamato juice and even a tartar sauce cream. Some come with a scoop of guacamole.

She receives deliveries of fresh local fish twice weekly, normally using kajiki (marlin) but sometimes changing it up with opah or whatever else is good in a given week.

This recipe is for a fruit-and-fish ceviche that will be a summer special at Ceviche House and Olivas’ other Wahiawa restaurant, Cafe Barrio. It uses lychee, which is plentiful in Wahiawa in the summer, and pineapple, which is sort of the symbol of the town.

Her advice, for after you’ve mixed all your ingredients and tasted for balance of flavors, is to eat with your eyes.

“I like to check the color. If it looks like something is missing, I’ll add a little more.”

Ceviche Tropical

• 1/2 pound raw kajiki, cut in cubes (about 1-1/2 cups)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Pepper, to taste
• Juice of 4 limes
• 1 cup diced cucumber
• 1 cup diced jicama (Chinese yam)
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 2 lychee, peeled, seeded and minced
• 1/4 cup diced pineapple
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon minced cilantro
• Minced habanero pepper, to taste, for garnish

Season fish with salt and pepper. Place in bowl and add lime juice; let marinate 1 hour in refrigerator, until fish is opaque.

Add remaining ingredients without draining fish. Taste and adjust seasonings. Top with habanero. Serves 4.

Approximate nutritional information, per serving: 110 calories, 0.5 g total fat, no saturated fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 200 mg sodium, 12 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 4 g sugar, 16 g protein.

AN ADDED TOUCH

Most of the ceviche at Ceviche House is served with tortilla chips, but one dish — Especialidad de la Casa, or house special — is served on a plate-size slab identified on the menu as chicharron. It’s not pork rind, as we’d normally think of chicharron, but a puffed wheat called duros de harina which resembles a pork rind in texture.

It’s sold in hard, thin orange sheets called duritos (which gives you an idea where Doritos originated). The sheets are fried, which makes them puffy and pork-rindy, sort of like shrimp chips if you’ve ever fried those.

Find duritos in 4-by-5-inch-sheets or wagon-wheel shapes at Mercado de la Raza, 1315 S. Beretania St., for $3 a pound.

Deep-fry in vegetable oil using a large pot or skillet. The hard sheet will curl, then spread out. Remove it before it has a chance to curl back in on itself, although if you end up with a bowl shape, you can still serve food in it. You can also spread the sheet out with spatulas as it fries or use something wide and flat to press the sheet down.

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