Peruvian
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Recipe: Lúcuma smoothie
Here’s a 2-ingredient recipe for a great tasting smoothie. We used lúcuma powder because we love it and get it cheap every time we go back home (you can buy it here but it’s freaking expensive). You can substitute cacao powder or fresh/frozen fruit. The possibilities are endless.
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Recipe: Chicken and mussel aguadito with cauliflower rice
Aguadito is a typical Peruvian soup. It means something like “soggy”, not a very appealing name, but it describes the dish perfectly: in essence it’s a watered-down version of arroz con pollo. I’m convinced that one of the reasons there aren’t too many obese people in Perú is that we tend to eat more home-cooked meals. Parties are no exceptions, and it’s not uncommon that the brave people who stay until the next morning are rewarded with a bowl of aguadito. For the record, I’m lame and tend to bail fairly early from parties, so I’ve never enjoyed a bowl of “morning after” aguadito. Aguadito is often made with chicken…
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Recipe: Patita con maní (pork trotters with(out) peanuts)
Patita con maní is a traditional creole dish from my city. Middle- and upper-class urbanites tend to look down on it because it’s made from feet (pata = animal foot). Silly, I know. Not only because animal feet are cheap, but mainly because they’re full of collagen, which is highly nourishing for the joints, skin, and gut. Sadly, Alvaro and I never got to experience patita con maní back home. Now that I’ve found good sources of pork, I’m keen on experimenting with different cuts. Pork trotters were in my radar and when trying to decide what to cook with them I thought it was about time to give the…
- Blog, Dairy-free, Gluten-free, Low-carb, Peruvian, Peruvian food, Recipes, Side dish, Vegan, Vegetarian
Recipe: Salsa criolla
Traditional tangy Peruvian salsa to serve with… anything!
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Recipe: Peruvian pork adobo
Let’s kick off this recipe with a few notes:
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Recipe: Cauliflower arroz a la cubana
The poor person’s Peruvian dish of choice is arroz a la cubana (Cuban-style rice), which I’m willing to bet doesn’t exist in Cuba (much like our Russian-style eggs, but that’s a topic for another time). When I was a kid it I considered it a treat (sweet fried stuff for lunch!) but then I realised it was just a cost-saving strategy. Either way, it’s a dish that is deeply ingrained in my memory, and as such, I crave it from time to time. I have no issues with eating small quantities of rice but this dish needs a big whack of it to fill you up and mop up the…
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Recipe: Dairy-free crema volteada
Another dairy-free version of another Peruvian classic dessert: crema volteada (our take on crème caramel). This is my mother-in-law’s and my sister Gloria’s favourite dessert. The original version uses evaporated and condensed milk, and is served with caramelised sugar on top. Yes, it is very sweet. I used coconut milk and cream and just enough honey to make it slightly sweet. The texture was very similar to the original version but was paler in colour because there were less protein and sugar to react with the heat.
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Recipe: Gluten and dairy-free tres leches cake
I don’t know where tres leches (three milks) cake came from but it’s very popular in several Latin American countries. It’s basically a sponge cake soaked in a mix of evaporated milk, condensed milk and cream (hence the name). Peruvian dessert queen Sandra Plevisani has a cinco leches version that uses coconut milk and dulce de leche (caramel) in addition. Needless to say, both versions are unbelievably sweet. While it’s not my favourite cake (I prefer chocolate over anything else), I realise it’s a crowd pleaser. My version is lower in sugar, plus gluten and dairy-free.
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Recipe: Seco de carne (Peruvian beef & coriander stew)
Lamb is not a very popular meat in my hometown. It is in the highlands, but for some reason the urbanites prefer beef. This is a beef version of the lamb seco I published a while ago. Now, I know that this will sound insane… but I decided to use kombucha instead of chicha de jora, knowing that a) the stuff is not cheap, and b) the cooking process kills the beneficial bacteria. But taste-wise it made sense. The result? I’d say I won’t be buying chicha any time soon. I adapted this recipe from a very well known Peruvian chef. A quick note on tradition: this stew usually contains…
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Recipe: Chorizo & cassava tortilla
I’m not an expert in the history of the tortilla española (Spanish tortilla or omelette), but I believe the traditional tortilla has nothing else than eggs, potatoes and onions. Outside of Spain, however, you can find tortillas with all sorts of ingredients, capsicum, chorizo and mushrooms being some of the most popular. This time I wanted to try some chorizos from Rodriguez Bros that I bought at my local market, so I made a bastardized version of the dish. By the way, the chorizos were delicious, a bit spicy, and while they have sugar and milk in them they’re at least gluten-free.
