Top 12 Peruvian Foods

Peru is not known for its culinary delights, probably because it has a lot of strange food, but there are some real winners down there in the mystic country.  Here are some of my favorites

12.  Mondongo or cau-cau (NOT!!)  These lovely stomach dishes were more than I could stomach.  Cau-cau made me sick on Thanksgiving Day when we were planning on splurging and buying a pizza.

11.  Cui--picante or frito  This is a Peruvian classic, guinea pig.  Although I didn't love it, I thought it was appropriate to include.  It wasn't bad, and I became quite familiar with the animal after skinning one.  This is what it looks like in the picante de ciu (my preference)

and this is what it looks like when the neighbor is getting ready for her daughter's quincenera

 

10.  Ceviche   Technically we were not allowed to eat raw fish, but I had ceviche made from chicken and made from squid while on my mission, and the regular fish kind at the Peruvian restaurant here. I can't say I loved this one either.  I mean fish in onion and lemon juice is quite strong, but it is a Peruvian classic.  Oh, once on a p-day we shot-gunned leche de tigre, the leftover juice after the ceviche marinates mixed with milk.  It had chunks of fish in eat, so  I'm not sure it was legal, but I we followed the zone leaders' lead.  That was strong stuff.  This is the zone at the cevicheria.  I'm still not sure what great sea creatures were in the stuff I ate there.

And here is a plate of ceviche.

9.  Habas  These are beans.  I'm not sure what kind, but I loved them toasted.  Boiled, they were kind of like lima beans (no pun intended).  I wish I had some now.  We would buy a toasted package in the street for 50 centavos and chew on them all day.  You have to use your teeth to bite off the shell, but it is worth it.  They were hard, and I'm sure did a number on the teeth, but if you sucked them first, they got softer and more delicious.  Once an old lady I didn't know gave me a handful and told me they were the sweets of the sierra. (Is fava the American name, and if so, where can I  find them?)

8.  Tamal   This is not specifically Peruvian, but I ate a lot of them and loved them.  People walked around selling these in the street yelling TAMAAAAALES!  One guy was always in our neighborhood when we would be walking home, and I would usually buy one for a sol.

7.  Alfajores   Another not specifically Peruvian food, I love these.  The Peruvian version is kind of dry, but melts in your mouth.

6.  Papa rellena   I would make these, but they are kind of labor-intensive.  You boil and peel potatoes, and let them sit, then you mash them with an egg to make mashed potato like stuff.  Separately, in a skillet you fry some beef strips or ground beef, onion, tomato, peppers, with spices, and add hard boiled egg and raisins.  You put the filling in the potato mash and shape it into a potato.  Then you fry the filled potato in oil.  It's best served with hot sauce.

5.  Arroz con leche   Rice cooked in milk and water and sugar and cinnamon.  It's simple and delicious.

4.  Aji de gallina  Now we're into my real favorites.  I'm not quite sure how to make it, but it is chicken (or hen) shredded in a thick milk-based sauce with just a little spicyness (from the aji amarillo.)  You also serve it with rice (duh) and a hard boiled egg.

3.  Pachamanca  This is a Peruvian Sierra classic.  It is the most labor intensive of all Peruvian foods, cooked outside on hot rocks covered with earth.  It includes meat of all kinds--beef, pork, fish, chicken, sheep, cui-- plus habas in the pod, potatoes, yams, and humitas, which are kind of like sweet tamales.  I'm not sure what herbs go in, but they are green, and they give it a very distinctive taste.  You can also make it in the less-traditional stove-top method.  Peruvians spend all day cooking this on holidays like Mother's Day.  In my version we used the beloved chicken Janet.

 

  

 

2.  Lomo saltado  This was my first favorites, since the CCM days.  It is some fry up of beef, tomatoes, and onions, served on homemade french fries and rice.  You can use chicken and some other vegetables like broccoli and squash, but it's not the classic saltado.  I should try and make it some day.

1.  Anticuchos  I still have cravings for these.  They are cow heart kabobs, and they are delicious.  Who knew that heart tasted so good?  They sold these in the streets all over, but we couldn't buy them in the street due to parasitic issues.  These I will make some day.