As we ate our way through my list of must-try dishes, we discovered that Peruvian cooking is a fusion of traditional indigenous practices, local ingredients and imported food practices. Each wave of newcomers to Peru added their cuisine atop that of centuries of indigenous pre-Incan and Incan cooking. Absent familiar ingredients, new immigrants adapted their recipes and substituted local similar ingredients for those unavailable, creating uniquely Peruvian versions of Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese and West African recipes, often decidedly different and unrecognizable from the original.
As we moved from city to city, I kept notes and photographed what we ate. Here is what we tasted:
Peruvian seafood starters
The icy Humboldt Current flowing in the Pacific Ocean parallel to Peru’s 1,500 mile (2,414k) coast provides a bountiful source of seafood.
Ceviche, considered by many to be Peru’s national dish, consists of diced raw fish or seafood marinated in a lime juice-celery-onion-garlic-cilantro-aji pepper marinade called leche de tigre (tiger’s milk — the Peruvian colloquial name for the spicy flavored juice produced from the ingredients of ceviche). While ceviche was probably created on the coast, it is now found in almost all Peruvian restaurants, often reflecting regional differences.
Along the Pacific coast in Lima, we tasted several ceviche, one made with corvina (white sea bass) and scallops in a “Mochero” chilis, ginger and lime juice leche de tigre and another with a mix of lemon sole, octopus, scallops and squid.
In Cuzco, ceviche was made with freshwater trout.
In both locations, ceviche was garnished with red onion, aji pepper, a slice or a puree of camote (sweet potato) and either choclo (large gigantic kernel white corn native to Peru) or cancha (toasted corn). But as Virgilio Martinez notes in his Lima the Cookbook, ceviche can be made with the cook’s choice of very fresh seafood and garnishes, bound together by a flavorful leche de tigre. Martinez points out that long marination is not required, ceviche should be prepared several minutes before serving.
Tiradito, a culinary cousin of ceviche, is thought to have been created under the influence of Japanese immigrants. Tiradito is also made with raw fish, but sliced sashimi-style into paper-thin strips and customarily served under a leche de tigre-aji pepper or cilantro puree, often garnished with edible flowers. In Cuzco, I sampled a fresh trout tiradito, which, unlike the juicy ceviches, was very lightly glazed with aji amarillo-lime juice puree, garnished with cubes of sweet potato and white corn kernels and flowers.
In Cuzco we also sampled a Japanese-inspired ensalada de tempura de camarones (shrimp tempura salad) with aji chilis and leche de tigre.
In cosmopolitan Lima, parrillada mixta de mariscos (mixed seafood grill) and ensalada de pulpo asado (roasted octopus salad) showcased the Pacific’s seafood bounty. A camarón tempura de coco (coconut tempura shrimp) was a lacy, crisp and golden example of Japanese influence on cocina novoandina (Peru’s New Andean cooking).
Peruvian potatoes, quinoa and lima beans
Peru’s markets have hundreds of varieties of potato, which agronomists believe originated in southern Peru near Lake Titicaca, the largest lake in South America. Currently over 3,800 varieties of potato are available, each with a specific culinary purpose. Thus, potatoes are served with virtually every Peruvian meal – fried, boiled, pureed plain or spiced with aji peppers or as multi-colored chips.
The first potato dish we tried was causa, a pre-Hispanic Andean dish of mashed potatoes flavored with aji peppers and lime juice and layered with a few flavorful ingredients of the cook’s choosing. In addition to mashed potatoes, causa often includes seafood or chicken, avocado, onion, olives and eggs, served for appetizer as a large cold pie or molded in variously-shaped individual servings.
Although cold mashed potatoes are not appealing in and of themselves, the very smooth, highly seasoned potato purée layered with other ingredients provides a delicious contrast between silky potatoes and other toothsome ingredients. In Cuzco, we enjoyed a camarones y aguacate causa (shrimp-avocado causa).
In Lima we tried a escabechada causa of mashed yellow Andean potatoes mixed with local chilis, lemon and olive oil and topped with roasted marinated-in-beer tuna.
While there are numerous varieties of quinoa native to Peru, the red, white and black quinoa are more often used in Peruvian cooking. Quinoa was domesticated by pre-Columbian civilizations more than 6,000 years ago and was a staple food for the Inca civilization, second in importance to the potato. Its ability to survive high altitudes, intense heat, freezing temperatures and sparse rain made it an important crop and part of Peru’s culinary tradition on which the population could rely. Quinoa’s nutritional properties sustained the Incan army in its long journeys and, as a result, Inca regarded the quinoa as a sacred food.
Our Peruvian guide said that despite quinoa’s long history as a dietary staple in Peru, quinoa ceased to be a significant part of the local diet during the Spanish colonial period when native people were discouraged to continue eating super healthy quinoa and kiwicha (amaranth) and encouraged to eat less-nutritious dense rice. Quinoa regained is popularity only recently after it was recognized as a superfood by nutritionists and chefs outside Peru, and demand for it soared.
Quinoa is often eaten as a side to meat or salad. In Cuzco we had ensalada de quinoa tricolor (a salad of tri-colored quinoa), a mixture of diced peppers, onions, tomatoes and olives and dressed with a lime vinaigrette.
Lima butter beans (pallares) have been part of Peruvian cuisine for at least 6,000 years and were named after the capital city. The ensalada de lima (lima butter bean salad) we sampled in Cuzco was prepared with cooked whole lima butter beans mixed with onions, slices of tomato, cubes of a soft white cheese and green ají pepper, marinated in lime juice, oil, salt, and vinegar.
Peruvian trout
Trucha (trout) are found throughout the waters of Andean Peru but are not native species. In 1939 rainbow trout were brought from Canada and released into Lake Titicaca and into a few rivers and lakes near the Sacred Valley. The Peruvian government’s idea was to create a new source of protein for the poor highlanders. Despite not being native, trout have not only survived but thrived throughout the country. Subsequent to these fish transplants, the Peruvian government constructed trout hatcheries along the banks of several mountain rivers, so now the trout supply is assured.
We were treated to a freshly caught and fried trout lunch by the indigenous families on Taquile Island in the middle of Lake Titicaca on the Peru-Bolivia border. The pale pink meat of the fish topped with a spicy aji salsa, served with three kinds of potato was delicious, especially after a several hour hike.
Peruvian stuffed peppers
Rocotto relleno, a dish from Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city, is made from stuffed green or red rocotto chilis and is now available throughout the country. Rocottos are one of the very hot (spicy) chilis of Peru which can be stuffed with vegetables or meat. We had rocotto relleno stuffed with vegetables as a salad in Cuzco.
This dish also can be stuffed with spiced beef or pork, onions, olives and egg, then baked in the oven with potatoes covered with cheese and milk.
Chinese influence
Over a hundred years ago, boatloads of Chinese immigrants arrived in Peru to work sugar plantations and guano mines. These newcomers brought with them soy sauce and stir frying.
Lomo saltado, a hearty hybrid stir-fry of beef strips, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, onions and coriander blended and quickly sautéed with soy sauce and fried potatoes, dates from the 19th century and provides clear evidence of Chinese-cantonese (called chifa) influence on local cuisine. The finished dish is served over rice.
Peruvian guinea pig
The furry guinea pig that is a child’s pet in the US is a culinary staple called cuy in Peru. Cuy were domesticated in Peru for over 5,000 years and provided essential protein to many generations of indigenous populations. Currently Peruvian households breed and fatten cuy in pens for special occasions. Peruvian cuy are about the same size as the American pet. Once baked or barbecued, there is not much to eat: cuy yields a crispy skin and tiny bits of meat on bones.
We tried baked cuy served with fried plantain and an onion salad at a novoandina restaurant in Puno. Cuy has a pleasant, gamy taste like rabbit or wild fowl, but there was so little meat that essentially we ate the skin and sucked on the tiny bones. We were still hungry after dinner.
Beef brochettes
Anticuchos are brochettes made from beef heart marinated in a paste of aji panca (Peruvian red pepper), garlic, vinegar, oregano, oil and cumin and grilled, often with a side of boiled potato or corn.
Historic records show that anticuchos date to the 16th century after the Spanish conquest. The Spanish brought beef and African slaves to Peru. Using beef heart for anticuchos is believed to have originated when Peru’s Spanish conquerors saved the choicest beef cuts for their families, leaving the beef organs for their indigenous slaves. To make the organs pallatable, slaves who worked in Spanish hacienda kitchens would flavor pieces of beef heart with Andean hot peppers and Spanish ingredients such as garlic, vinegar, cumin and salt, creating a flavorful and inexpensive addition to a meal. Anticuchos are usually not the main course of a meal, but rather an accompaniment to grilled meats along with potato, sausage and salads. Today’s high-end restaurants offer anticuchos as entradas, or appetizers. Street-cart vendors sell them slathered in a garlicky sauce.
We sampled anticuchos along with our polla a la brasa in Lima. The beef heart tastes like char-broiled steak.
Peruvian grilled chicken
Pollo a la brasa is whole chicken marinated in soy sauce flavored with red peppers, garlic, and cumin, which gives the meat and skin a smoky, salty taste and baked in hot ashes or on a spit-roast. The origins of the recipe for this dish date back to Lima, the capital of Peru, during the 1950s when two Swiss citizens who were Peruvian residents invented and registered the patent for a machine to cook the chicken on a grill and created a special marinade. The dish comes with French fried potatoes or fried yucca, salad and various sauce of all kinds(Peruvian mayonnaise, ketchup, olive sauce, chimichurri and aji pepper).
Alpaca
Alpaca comprise the largest number of camelidae in the Andean highlands. While alpaca are now raised primarily for their silky wool, they have been a source of meat for the Andean indigenous people for centuries. Alpacas are grass fed at high altitude. The meat is rich in protein, almost fat and cholesterol free.
The leanness of alpaca makes it ideal for drying into jerky. Peru’s markets sell large slabs of salt-encrusted alpaca (chalon or charqui) which are dried in the sun and cold nights of the Andes for almost one month. Alpaca is the cheapest meat available and is eaten by Indians on the coast and highlands. Peruvians told us that only the poorest natives eat alpaca, but tourists love it.
We tried alpaca a la parrilla (grilled alpaca) in Cuzco. The meat is very lean and was wrapped in bacon to add moistness during grrilling. This alpaca steak had a gamey taste, like venison, with slightly metallic aftertaste.
Peruvian sweets
Peruvians love dulces (sweets), the sweeter the better. Desserts were brought to Peru by Spanish and European immigrants and over the centuries adapted to Peruvian ingredients and tastes. We tasted several spectacular desserts which combined local ingredients with European preparation methods.
Suspiro de lúcuma is a Spanish-influenced dessert based on dulce de leche (a caramel custard made with sweetened condensed milk). The bottom layer of a suspiro is made of dulce de leche enriched with egg yolks, cinnamon, honey, milk and pureed lucuma (a mango-like fruit native to Peru with a custardy taste similar to maple syrup). The top layer consists of meringue made with port wine. This classic dessert is said to have been named by the Peruvian poet and author José Gálvez whose wife was famous for her cooking. When asked what inspired the name, he reportedly replied, “Because it is soft and sweet, like the sigh of a woman.”
Cheesecake de queso de cabra con esmalte de fruta de la pasió (Goat cheese cheesecake with passion fruit glaze) prepared from unsalted goat cheese, heavy cream, vanilla, eggs and honey, is a novoandino version of a European dessert. This cheesecake was creamy and tangy.
Pastel de tres leches (tres leches cake), is a sponge cake soaked with a milk syrup made from three different milks: condensed or whole milk, heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk and decadently covered with whipped cream. Tres leches is very sweet, more a pudding than cake, but delicious and hard to resist.
Churros are long hollow ridged tubes of plain choux dough extruded through a star-shaped die and fried in hot oil until golden and crunchy. Churros originated in Spain and are available throughout the Americas. In Peru, churros are eaten dipped in a sweet sauce or filled with cream or caramel or chocolate, but definitely rolled in sugar cinnamon mixture. Churros are often bought from street vendors and some restaurants offer churros at lunch.
Although we enjoyed delicious food during our ten days in Peru, we merely scratched the surface of Peru’s food culture and traditions. We spent our time only in southern Peru, and on the next trip will explore the tropical rainforests of northern and eastern Peru and Amazonia, which make up 60% of Peru’s total area. Peruvian guides told us that these yet-to-be-discovered regions have different foodways worth exploring. I can’t wait.
One year ago :http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/sausage-and-white-bean-stew/
Two years ago: http://www.kitchenepiphanies.com/spaetzle-the-ubiquitous-noodle/