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.
 
 

 
 

 

[Thegreenchilemonster]

Carapulcra.

You have to start this dish the day before. Start by toasting your dried potatoes for 5 minutes, then soaking your dried potatoes in a large pot of water. The next day, drain your rehydrated potatoes, then strain and repeat, until free of debris.

Cube up your pork, then cook it in a pan until browned on all sides. Take the pork out, and put it on a plate. Cook up two diced onions, diced garlic, and 3 tablespoons of aji panca. Once fully cooked, re-add the pork, one teaspoon of cinnamon, one teaspoon of cumin, and 3 bay leaves. Cook this for 3 minutes, coating all of the pork. Add 1 wine glass full of wine (I used a homemade apple pie cyser), 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, and 3 cups of chicken stock. Add the rehydrated potatoes. Simmer for one hour, then plate with some rice and diced culantro.

 

[Thegreenchilemonster]

Tallarin Saltado.

Just like Lomo Saltado, this is a dish that needs to be cooked as quickly as possible. Dice your green onions, slice your bell peppers, tomatoes and cut up your onions. Slice up your beef. Blend up 3 cloves of garlic, 1 tablespoon of aji amarillo, 2 tablespoons of aji panca, and 3 whole aji limo. Cook your noodles, then strain. Fry up your meat on high heat, add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and one tablespoon of vinegar. Once the meat is cooked, add your diced ginger, and onions. Cook for about 2 minutes, then add your bell peppers. Cook for 2 more minutes, then add your tomatoes. Add your noodles, and toss everything together so that it is equally coated. I like to add a bit of beef broth at this point to the pan to make the dish extra juicy, but it isn't necessary, just a personal preference. Mix everything together again in the pan, then serve, spoon some juice to the plate.

 

[grantmichaels]

Looks like I can go out and grab a Pisco beverage soon ...
 
http://www.yourobserver.com/article/peruvian-restaurant-opens-university-parkway

 

[Thegreenchilemonster]

Looks like I can go out and grab a Pisco beverage soon ...
 
http://www.yourobserver.com/article/peruvian-restaurant-opens-university-parkway

Nice, that place looks legit. I would definitely love to try some of these.

 

[The Hot Pepper]

That pork potato dish looks awesome! Never seen those dried potatoes. In the dish almost looks like gnocchi. 

 

[grantmichaels]

For those without FB, here's some pics ...
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[grantmichaels]

Nice, that place looks legit.

 
They won't make it in Lakewood Ranch if they can't deliver authenticity ...
 
Folks who frequent that area are mostly ex-Northeasterners, or Northeasterner snowbirds ...
 
Also, there's a very well established Peruvian restaurant, Selva Grill, that opened up a little bit ahead of ceviche blowing up years back: http://www.selvagrill.com/gallery.html
 
And then there's Darwin's, where Wheebz was the brewer ... they closed their brick and mortar location and are foodtruckin' it around, now ...
 
There's another place that seems decent enough, haven't heard: http://www.inkantoperu.com/gallery/
 
And I'm glad I looked, because I just found some quickie place that has 3x locations: http://maemichicken.com/menu/
 
Hmmm ... options!

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Looks like I can go out and grab a Pisco beverage soon ...
 
http://www.yourobserver.com/article/peruvian-restaurant-opens-university-parkway

 
Nice! It's open now go check it out.

 

[grantmichaels]

 
Nice! It's open now go check it out.

 
We're planning on taking Danielle's cousin to one of them a couple of weekend's from now ...

 

[Tinnie]

Nice dishes again tgcm!
 
I have been told a few times that Causa... or "the cause" in english.... was commonly given to the troops in the Peru/Chile war, which is where the name came from. Have you ever tried Causa Norteno?
 
Great looking Carapulcra!.... once the temps start dropping a bit more here im going to make some Carapulcra Chinchana.... i love sopa seca....
 
Delicious looking Tallarines Saltados.... personally i think you need plenty of juice for that dish.... yours looks great...

 

[Tinnie]

Looks like I can go out and grab a Pisco beverage soon ...
 
http://www.yourobserver.com/article/peruvian-restaurant-opens-university-parkway

 
Be sure to try a Maracuya Sour if you have the chance.... they are fantastic!

 

[Thegreenchilemonster]

Nice dishes again tgcm!
 
I have been told a few times that Causa... or "the cause" in english.... was commonly given to the troops in the Peru/Chile war, which is where the name came from. Have you ever tried Causa Norteno?
 
Great looking Carapulcra!.... once the temps start dropping a bit more here im going to make some Carapulcra Chinchana.... i love sopa seca....
 
Delicious looking Tallarines Saltados.... personally i think you need plenty of juice for that dish.... yours looks great...

Thanks man! I always like my tallarin saltado extra juicy.

I've never tried a causa norteña before, just the regular causas of chicken/fish.

I agree with you, maracuya pisco sours are soooo good!

I just dug into the extra spicy plate of delicousness. Great hangover cure!

 

[Tinnie]

Brilliant!

 

[Tinnie]

Hoping to try some soups now its getting colder..... the other night we had a soup called Llunca (pronounced yun-ka) which is a traditional dish from the Ancash region of Peru.... Its quite simple to make and the end result is a quite rich filling soup.... we served it with fresh chilli and lemon on the side...
 
Ingredients:
- 1 Gallina (Hen) cut into 8 pieces
- 300g Barley (or Wheat grains) soaked in water overnight
- 1 medium onion
- 2 Aji Amarillo
- 2t Garlic
- 3 Green onions
- Huacatay (or herb of your choice)
 
Method:
Put barley with soaking liquid into a pot with gallina pieces, add enough water to cover everything, season with salt, pepper and ajinomoto. Cut onion in half and add one whole half to pot and finely chop other half for later. Bring pot to boil and cook until both gallina and barley are cooked (roughly 1 and a half hours), skimming impurities from the top with a spoon as it cooks. Fry remaining onion, garlic, aji amarillo, green onions and huacatay in a little oil, then add that to soup for the last 5 mins of cooking. Done.
 
 

 

[The Hot Pepper]

Bread with butter. Dunk.

Fab

 

[Thegreenchilemonster]

Hoping to try some soups now its getting colder..... the other night we had a soup called Llunca (pronounced yun-ka) which is a traditional dish from the Ancash region of Peru.... Its quite simple to make and the end result is a quite rich filling soup.... we served it with fresh chilli and lemon on the side...
 
Ingredients:
- 1 Gallina (Hen) cut into 8 pieces
- 300g Barley (or Wheat grains) soaked in water overnight
- 1 medium onion
- 2 Aji Amarillo
- 2t Garlic
- 3 Green onions
- Huacatay (or herb of your choice)
 
Method:
Put barley with soaking liquid into a pot with gallina pieces, add enough water to cover everything, season with salt, pepper and ajinomoto. Cut onion in half and add one whole half to pot and finely chop other half for later. Bring pot to boil and cook until both gallina and barley are cooked (roughly 1 and a half hours), skimming impurities from the top with a spoon as it cooks. Fry remaining onion, garlic, aji amarillo, green onions and huacatay in a little oil, then add that to soup for the last 5 mins of cooking. Done.
 
 

That looks great! I've never had it. I'll definitely make some in a couple of weeks when I have some ripe aji amarillo.

 

[Tinnie]

Cheers tgcm!
 
Hope you enjoy it 

 

[Thegreenchilemonster]

I just crushed a huge bowl of this at my favorite local Peruvian restaurant. I had to post a photo, because it is some of the best Peruvian soup I've ever tasted. It's called Patasca. It is similar to menudo, but with all of the flavors and aji of Peru, instead of Mexico. It has hominy and tripe similar to menudo, but also small chunks of beef. They served it with a crema de rocoto on the side. One of the best meals I've had in long time! I need to make this ASAP.

 

[grantmichaels]

I find tripe challenging in presentation, but would probably enjoy it if I tried it ...

 

[Tinnie]

Yummo!!
 
Yep you'd never get a restaurant here making Patasca or anything similar.... they'd be too scared to.... 
 
I still have some dired Mote around here somewhere.... i might give this one a go too... i was eyeing off a certain recipe a few weeks ago....
 
 
Grant for this particular soup the tripe is pretty important for the flavour of the broth.... as is the corn/mote.... i think you'd enjoy the soup even if it meant pushing the tripe and corn to the side lol....