October is known as the Purple Month in Peru, in honor of the Señor de los Milagros. To celebrate, I’ll be posting 3 recipes in the next 3 days: a drink, a dessert, and a cocktail — all with the same chicha morada base. What is chicha morada? It’s a purple corn elixir that dates back to the Incas, and… Read more →
Purists will tell you that only 5 ingredients are used in making a ceviche: fish, salt, hot peppers, onions, and lime juice. But what if you want to use squid instead of a firm flesh white fish? How do you cook the squid? And how do you make the leche de tigre sauce? The secret is to cook the squid… Read more →
Salsa Criolla has two of my favorite words: salsa and criolla. Salsa of course can refer to the music and dance from the Caribbean, but here it refers to the sauce or spice that adds a special touch to any dish. And criolla or creole refers to the influence of Afro-Peruvian culture in Peruvian cuisine. Not surprisingly, you may be… Read more →
One of my favorite food projects is to “Peruvianize” a dish, that is, take an existing dish and change some of its ingredients to give it a uniquely Peruvian touch. For example, start with a traditional flan, but add quinoa and create the Crema Volteada. Or use quinoa to cook a Quinua con Leche instead of the traditional rice pudding.… Read more →
One of my favorite stories in Peruvian Traditions by Ricardo Palma is With Days and Cooking Pots, We Will Triumph — a story about the role of cooking in the fight for Peru’s independence from Spain almost 200 years ago. In that story, one of the passwords used by the rebels was pan, queso, y raspadura, or the bread, cheese,… Read more →