Peruvian Recipes: A New Fusion
One of the most delicious and innovative ways to explore and learn about a cuisine is to create fusions. Since Peruvian cuisine is all the rage, it is a great place to start for some real food inspiration! To celebrate the cuisine of Peru and explore Peruvian recipes further, we asked Morena Cuadra, author of The Peruvian Kitchen cookbook, to give a Peruvian twist to an old standby recipe – stuffed peppers. Below is the deliciously authentic recipe Morena created for us called – Arequipa-Style Stuffed Bell Peppers.
This is one of the most popular dishes from Arequipa, and it’s made with rocoto, a fiery chili pepper that grows in the Peruvian Andes. The process is labor intensive because the cook needs to tame the heat of the chilies, soaking them overnight in a mixture of water, sugar and vinegar, or boiling them several times with water and sugar, changing the water as soon as it boils. A friend of mine taught me another method: fill the rocotos with salt and rub the inside with a spoon, discarding the salt immediately to get rid of the burning heat.
If you want to try this dish but don´t want to deal with the heat (and want to make the process easier), use bell peppers instead of rocotos, a great idea for those who like milder food. Another change you can make is to substitute the beef with shrimp. Or fill the peppers with a delicious Solterito, a tasty salad made with giant kernel corn, fava beans, rocoto, and queso fresco.
- 6 bell peppers
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 cup red onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons aji panca paste
- 1 lb. sirloin steak, finely cut in small squares
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons peanuts, toasted and ground
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/3 cup black olives, seeded and chopped
- 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped
- 1 tablespoon parsley leaves, chopped
- 1/2 cup black raisins
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup unsweetened evaporated milk
- Salt and pepper
- 2 lb. waxy potatoes, boiled, peeled and thickly sliced
- 8 oz. queso fresco (fresh white cheese) in thick slices
- 1 teaspoon aniseed
- 1½ cups unsweetened evaporated milk
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 eggs
- Salt and pepper
- Cut the top of the bell peppers and discard the seeds and veins. Reserve the tops.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan over high heat, add the onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Add aji panca paste, beef and bay leaf, stirring occasionally. When cooked, add the onion, ¼ teaspoon sugar, salt and pepper and continue cooking for 10 minutes.
- Add the peanuts, oregano, olives, hard-boiled eggs, parsley, raisins, salt and pepper.
- Fill the peppers with this mixture. Accommodate in a square pyrex or baking pan.
- In a bowl, beat two eggs with ½ cup evaporated milk, salt and pepper, and pour over the rocotos. Put a slice of queso fresco on top of each bell pepper. Then cover with the reserved tops.
- Bake for 35 minutes in a 350°F oven. Serve with the potato gratin.
- Butter a baking pan or a pyrex, make one layer of potato slices, cover with queso fresco and a sprinkling of aniseed, salt and pepper. Repeat three times.
- In a bowl whip the eggs until very thick, add evaporated milk, salt and pepper. Pour over the potatoes and cheese. Bake in a 350°F oven until golden and thick.
To learn more about Morena’s thoughts on Peruvian food and Peruvian Recipes read our Q&A with her here.
The Peruvian Kitchen Cookbook Is Available On Amazon.com.
More of Morena Cuadra’s Peruvian Recipes can be found on her fantastic blog Peru Delights.
Morena and other Peruvian recipes can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Google+
Keep Eating! Keep Innovating!
What is your favorite Peruvian Recipe or Peruvian Food? Let us know all about it in the comments or on Facebook.
The Culinary Exchange can also be found on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ and YouTube.
Come On! Follow Along!
Trackbacks/Pingbacks