Peruvian Food

(Peru, January 2009, continued)

As you may have noted by now, I was pretty impressed with Peruvian food.

Although I had eaten at Peruvian restaurants, I didn’t know much about Peruvian food other than its reputation as (among) the best in South America and pretty distinct from its neighbors. Ecuadorians, to the north, eat meat and potatoes… and rice, and corn, and plantains.

This photo looks like what Andy’s semester-abroad host family served us in Quito… fried meat and assorted carbohydrates.

And to the south, here in Chile, fresh seafood, simply cooked, and dishes based on corn, beans and tomatoes are typically Chilean; there’s not much complexity and the immigrant influences are mostly Spanish and German: empanadas and küchen.

But Peru [and here I find myself drifting into professor mode] has all the makings of a great cuisine: diverse environments, from the Atacama desert to the Amazon rainforest; an indigenous high culture, which meant that there was a cuisine, and not just food; and extensive immigration from Europe, Asia and Africa, which brought new ingredients and cooking techniques.

The traditional Inca crops included corn, beans, squash, potatoes, peanuts, chilies, sweet potatoes, and avocados; plus lesser known domesticates such as quinoa, a small grain used like rice; oca and ulluco, potato-like tubers; and many herbs and fruits found in Peruvian markets, if nowhere else.

And they had meat: llamas, alpacas, guinea pigs and ducks.

The arrival of the conquistadores brought little culinary sophistication, but they did bring pigs, cows, sheep, chickens, and wheat, plus the essential onions, garlic and cilantro. Africans, Italians, Chinese and Japanese brought more, all now incorporated into classic Peruvian dishes.

The characteristic ingredients of the Peruvian cuisine are potatoes, in many varieties, sizes and shapes;

…aji amarillo (yellow chile pepper, center) and another chile, the rocoto (upper right); tomatoes, red onions; cilantro

...the herb huacatay (left in photo); queso fresco (farmer’s cheese); peanuts; and evaporated milk(!);

These go into a lot of dishes, but among the most common on restaurant menus are:









Ceviche 
Raw fish, usually corvina, lightly marinated in lime juice with a touch of garlic, ginger and chile; and tossed with red onion, cilantro and parsley. Served with slices of sweet potato and Peruvian corn. All kinds of combinations are possible, using shrimp, octopus (cooked first), squid, clams, etc. We even had and excellent vegetable ceviche. Usually a first course. Delicious, cool and fresh. (There’s another picture in the Arequipa section.)














Papas a La 
Huancaina   

 

               and Ocopa 

                                 

These are cheesy sauces served cool over boiled potatoes. Papas a La Huancaina (potatoes in the stile of the lady from Huancayo) include yellow chiles, evaporated milk, and queso fresco, thickened with cracker crumbs. Ocopa includes these, plus onion, green pepper, huacatay, and ground peanuts, and is thickened with crumbled vanilla wafers (or animal crackers). I have only had papas a la Huancaina, which were rich, cheesy and a little bland. I look forward to ocopa …which I plan to make soon.

Rocoto Relleno

Rocotos are chile peppers, very hot if the seeds are included, but only slightly hot if the seeds and veins are scooped out. In Arequipa, where the dish is famous, they are filled with minced beef, seasoned with garlic, oregano, yellow chiles, and minced peanuts; and topped with hard boiled egg slices and cheese. Rocotos are not likely to be found outside South America.

  

Lomo Saltado

This Chinese influenced stir-fry of beef, onions, tomatoes and French fries is on the menu of every Peruvian restaurant.

 

Aji de gallina

And so is aji de gallina, boneless chicken in a cheese and yellow chile sauce similar to that of papas a la Huancaina (also with HB eggs and olives).

Seco de Cordero


Literally “dry of lamb” this fine dish is not dry and may also be made with beef, goat or alpaca. (The name contrasts with agguaditos, “little waters,” dishes which are more soup-like.) The meat is cooked in a sauce of beer, garlic, onions and lots of cilantro. The seco I had in Cusco looked more like the one below: greener is better--if not pretter.

=

Tallarines en salsa verde

Spaghetti in green sauce, Peru’s version of pesto, includes walnuts, spinach and evaporated milk, in addition to the traditional basil and garlic. In restaurants it is often offered with chicken or seafood, like this one that I ate in Mangos restaurant in Lima.
.

And for desert, Suspiros de Limeñas, “sighs of ladies from Lima,” a meringue-topped custard served with a port wine sauce.

Other dishes you may encounter in your neighborhood Peruvian restaurant are fish, steak or chicken ...la chorrillana, meaning topped with a sauté of tomatoes, onions and peppers; arroz con pato, duck with cilantro seasoned rice; chicharoes de calamares fried pieces of squid (or fish or pork): and chupes, chowders of seafood and vegetables.

Cui, guniea pig, will probably not be on US menus.

Recipes for all these things can be found on the web (try http://www.yanuq.com/english/recipesperuvian.asp) or in The Exotic Kitchens of Peru, by Copeland Marks, a cookbook author who does research like an anthropologist. I’ve used his recipes for some of the descriptions (and some photos are from the web).