Introduction

Welcome back for another culinary tour of the world, as we follow The Amazing Race for round seven. Let’s hope this season is kinder to vegetarians and to those of us who don’t like a lot of screaming. So far, so good, what with the start in Peru, at least for the vegetarians. The national food of Peru is ceviche, and the pisco sour is the national drink. Peruvians also enjoy the cherimoya, called the fruit of the Incas. Some North American grocery stores have cherimoyas occasionally. Unfortunately, at least to my North American sensibilities, this is one of those South American countries where they eat guinea pigs. I came across a recipe for guinea pig stew, too. It’s not included. Oh, and here’s the handy conversion chart, in case you need it.


Salads/Appetizers

Quinoa is an ancient grain native to South America; increasingly, it’s available in North America, especially at health food stores. There’s a reason for this – it’s tasty, as you’ll learn if you make this quinoa salad. If you prefer something more familiar, try this lima bean salad. And this Peruvian potato salad isn’t all that different from what you’re probably used to.

On to the appetizers. Cebiche, ceviche, or serviche, however you choose to spell it, it’s the national dish of Peru and makes the concept of “cold fish” worth embracing. This version calls for mahi mahi and a one-hour marination, while our second recipe leaves the choice of fish up to you and suggests 10 hours of marinating. Then again, maybe you want to skip all that. If that’s the case, try the Peruvian style mussels instead.


Meat/Fish

Let’s start with Peruvian garlic chicken (with peanuts!). When a recipe calls for a whole chicken and then says the meat is to be removed from the bones, I just go buy a high-quality rotisserie chicken. In some metropolitan areas, like Washington DC, there are Peruvian rotisserie chicken carry-outs, run by Peruvian immigrants, so you can combine convenience and authenticity! Here’s another version of Peruvian chicken. Or you could make chicken stew with green rice. Chicken is also the meat in this Andean stew with huancaina sauce, which is a sort of hot pepper-onion-cream sauce.

Tired of chicken? Try grilled shrimp with potatoes and plantain cream. Or you could go with a spicy lamb stew. Finally, this recipe for marinated pork sounds yummy, but note the 24-hour marination time.


Vegetarian

Vegetarian or not, Peruvians eat a lot of potatoes. They eat them spicy with cheese, or with hardboiled eggs, corn, and olives, or as part of a nice baked quinoa casserole with peppers.

Potatoes also go with tofu and cooked veggies. They are strangely missing, however, from this hearty veggie stew. But they’re back again with this interesting recipe for acorn squash stew.


Desserts/Beverages

So if you want to drink with the Incas, you can either track down some Inca Cola (horribly sweet stuff), or make a pisco sour.

Lechea is a custard found all over South America. More specific to Peru is this baked coconut dessert. And yucca fritters might make you think of a South American donut.


More

For the motherlode, we have an excellent site dedicated to Peruvian cooking. Meanwhile, Food Down Under has 51 Peruvian recipes.