Comida South America!

For a long time now South American food, esp Peruvian, has held a special place in my heart. Recently i was generously given a gift of a couple of Rocoto sauces from friends overseas. So I thought id start this thread in hopes to learn more about the cuisine and also try my hand a little more often to cook some of their dishes.
 
tonights dinner is a couple of my Peruvian favorites:
 
*Anticuchos - Traditionally beef heart is used.... i used blade steak marinated in 1/2C vinegar, 2T Aji Panca paste, garlic, scotch bonnett, oregano, cumin
*Ajiaco de Papas- 1/2 onion diced and sauteed in butter/oil, add 200g of diced halloumi (or queso fresco), add 3T Aji Amarillo paste, 1/2C stock, 1/2C evaporated milk. Stir and mash in 1kg of cooked potatoes.
*Others - Rice, Salsa Criolla (onion) and one of my favorite beers, Cusquena Negra.
 
 

 
 

 

[The Hot Pepper]

DAMN!

We were all right sounds amazing!

 

[Thegreenchilemonster]

The appetizer to the jalea was papas rellenas.



...and leche de tigre. I asked them to make mine extra spicy, and they must have added a good 4-5 blended aji limo, because their usual leche de tigre is milky white.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

DAMN love me Peruvian, need to hit my joint... I get delivery but not the same...

 

[tctenten]

Looks like a great meal.

 

[Grass Snake]

I need to visit some Peruvian Restaurants around here again. Last time I had an steak empanada with a hard bolied egg and powdered sugar on top. The only issue I had had at that restaurant was the dude taking orders wouldn't quit dancing Salsa even to take my order lol

 

[Malarky]

I'm so jealous of your eats Dale. Can't wait to harvest my own Peruvian peppers!

 

[Tinnie]

Best Jalea I've had in a long time.

 
 
Bugger me.... and a peruvian portion if i ever saw one...... that looks so good  .... id be on that like a seagull on a chip.... 
 
This topic actually came up between me and my mate just a coupla days ago..... I was telling him the best Jalea i had was down in Paracas.... apart from the incredibly fresh seafood.... they had some sort of seasoning to it that just blew me away..... my mate said his fiance had said the same thing last year when they took a trip down there lol.... 
 
Is fresh choclo avaliable in the States?

 

[Tinnie]

Yesterday i made Sudado de Pollo (Colombian chicken stew)...... adapted from this recipe http://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/chicken-stew-pollo-sudado ..... came out awesome.... woofed it down with a liberal addition of rocoto sauce... will be making this one again....
 

 
 
 

 

[The Hot Pepper]

dope!

 

[grantmichaels]

love the colors on that ...
 

 

[Thegreenchilemonster]

 
 
Bugger me.... and a peruvian portion if i ever saw one...... that looks so good  .... id be on that like a seagull on a chip.... 
 
This topic actually came up between me and my mate just a coupla days ago..... I was telling him the best Jalea i had was down in Paracas.... apart from the incredibly fresh seafood.... they had some sort of seasoning to it that just blew me away..... my mate said his fiance had said the same thing last year when they took a trip down there lol.... 
 
Is fresh choclo avaliable in the States?

No, we only have frozen choclo available in the states. Same thing with papas amarillas.

Yesterday i made Sudado de Pollo (Colombian chicken stew)...... adapted from this recipe http://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/chicken-stew-pollo-sudado ..... came out awesome.... woofed it down with a liberal addition of rocoto sauce... will be making this one again....
 

 
 
 

That looks delicious!

 

[Tinnie]

 
Peruvian beans and rice with fired egg on top.... plenty of addition rocoto sauce added....
 
Devoured before realising the fuzziness of the photo lol....  simple comforting food though... love it.....

 

[Tinnie]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovj_fxUVhz8
 
Also found this video recently which i found interesting..... someone told me years ago that before the arrival of the Spanish, the original Incan dish papa a la huancaina was ajis and cheese ground down into a paste using a batan, then served on potatoes. The batan is like a large motar and pestle.... but the pestle is a large convex shaped stone that is rocked back and forth..... they are usually a fair bit bigger than the one in the video too.....
 
Many families still use Batanes for their ajis and salsas..... always thought if i ever got my own property i would love to make my own big one for the bbq area......

 

[dragonsfire]

Nice !!!

 

[Malarky]

wow, just reread this thread and compiled a cookbook of all the recipes I want to try.
Dale do you have 3 colors of Aji Limos? Some of your Aji Limo recipes had the Red, Yellow and a Green. Do those packages of frozen aji limos have all 3? 
 
I need to find a good ethnic market near me

 

[Thegreenchilemonster]

wow, just reread this thread and compiled a cookbook of all the recipes I want to try.
Dale do you have 3 colors of Aji Limos? Some of your Aji Limo recipes had the Red, Yellow and a Green. Do those packages of frozen aji limos have all 3? 
 
I need to find a good ethnic market near me

One of the aji limo plants I grow goes through about 5 colors, with red being the final color. Another of my aji limo plants goes from green to red. The frozen bags of aji limo they sell at the latin grocery store usually has all red aji limo, but from time to time have a mix of green, yellow, and red.

 

[Malarky]

Dale do you freeze those big red rocotos or use them up fresh for your rocoto relleno?

 

[Thegreenchilemonster]

How to prepare anticuchos:

Here is a step by step on the preparation of anticuchos. You all know how to skewer and grill meat, so I'll skip that part.

Ingredients

10 large aji amarillo
4 tablespoons aji panca
2 tablespoons liqiuified aji mirasol
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon white pepper
1 cup EVOO
1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
Beef heart



This is one appetizer of several for the 30+ people I am cooking for this Sunday. This is enough marinade for 3 beef hearts, so you can scale down as needed.

De vein and de seed the aji amarillo. Throw those peppers along with the rest of the ingredients, aside from the beef heart, in a blender. Liquify.

Take a razor sharp knife, and begin to cut away all of the fat.



Be careful while slicing, but cut just under the fat cap, and take your time to salvage that delicious meat. When you are done, it should look like this.



Flip the heart over. Notice that sketchy membrane, with all of those veins/arteries? Get rid of all of that.



If you have ever had some tough/chewy anticuchos, it's because the cook didn't take the time to get rid of this membrane. Very carefully slice one end, and begin to pull away the membrane. All of the veins will come with it. This requires a good amount of force, and patience. This is what it should look like when done.



Cut nice long medium thickness chunks of heart. You want to maximize surface area here for the marinade, so don't try to save time and cube the meat.



Take your blended marinade, and pour it in with all of your meat. Put on some gloves and massage all of that marinade im there. Make sure every nook and cranny is covered. Cover and put in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Skewer and grill over charcoal/wood.

 

[Tinnie]

Wow!
 
Talk about coming back with a bang! Appreciate the step by step and the attention to detail.... 
 
Had planned on Peruvian for dinner tonight but was up half the night crook.... so not sure if its going to happen at this stage....
 
Hope you have a chance to post some pics of those bad boys grilled.....

 

[Thegreenchilemonster]

Wow!
 
Talk about coming back with a bang! Appreciate the step by step and the attention to detail.... 
 
Had planned on Peruvian for dinner tonight but was up half the night crook.... so not sure if its going to happen at this stage....
 
Hope you have a chance to post some pics of those bad boys grilled.....

I'll grab some pics while I grill them, or grilled, if I remember. This is one of 5 grilled appetizers. I'm doing an Argentine asado spread this Sunday for a large group, with anticuchos being the only Peruvian dish.