Peruvian Recipes
Here are some recipes for a few typical Peruvian dishes.
I will be adding new ones on a regular basis.
Cebiche ( added 23 June 2005 )
Here is a recipe for the famous cebiche. The main problem you may have is finding the very acid lemons we have here in Peru. The photo at the top of this page shows them. They are small, about the same size as golf balls, have many pips, lots of juice and are very acidic. Yellow lemons won't work, so substitute limes. The flavour won't be exactly the same, but if there is no alternative, they will do.
The freshness of the fish is very important. Good fish to use are sea bass or sole, although any white fish that isn't too oily will be fine.
Ingredients.
- 1kg fish fillets, cut in to small slices, maybe 3 or 4 cm long by 1 or 2cm wide, fairly thin, no more than half a cm thick.
- 1 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped or 1 teaspoon of pureed garlic ( again fresh )
- Fresh red Chilli, finely chopped, add to taste... I medium hot chilli could be about right.
- 2 teaspoons of finely chopped coriander ( cilantro ) leaves.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- 1 red onion for garnish
- Peeled and boiled sweet potato and cooked sweet corn are the traditional accompaniments.
Method.
- Put the fish in a large mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- Add the chilli and mix well.
- Wait about 5 minutes for the flavours to develop
- Add the garlic, lemon and coriander, mix well and cover it and leave it for about 30 minutes for the acid to "cook" the fish... it will change colour to a more white colour. Mix again if needed to make sure it all changes colour.
- Slice the red onion, and soak in salted cold water to remove the strong flavour.
- Serve on a bed of lettuce, with some of the lemon liquid and the sweet potato and corn. Garnish with the onion slices and some sliced chilli.
- Enjoy!
Here is one of my favourite breakfast dishes. (added 30 May 2005)
Breakfast - Chicharron Sandwiches
A typical breakfast dish here is Chicharron. It is fried pork belly or any other fatty pork, then served in a sandwich with fried sweet potato slices and onion salad.
Here's the recipe:
Take some pork belly, maybe 1 or 2 kg's, cut it into chunks, about 5cm (2inches) square. they can be slightly bigger or smaller.
Put the pork into a heavy, deep pan, and cover with water.. just enough to cover the meat completely
.Add about 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook uncovered on the hob.
As the water evaporates, then the fat that has come out of the port is used to fry the meat at the end of the cooking.
If you have used pork with little fat, then you may need to add a tiny bit of oil.
Frying using the fat left over in the same pan... sometimes you will need to remove some of the meat, to make space to fry the pieces of pork, and as each piece to golden all over, remove it, and add the next piece.
Slice some sweet potato (about half a cm thick) and fry in the same fat, after you have finished with the meat.
Slice some onion thinly, and soak in water for a few minutes, to remove the strong flavour. Drain. Put in a dish, add salt and pepper and a small amount of thinly sliced fresh chili pepper ( optional, and use sparingly.. this is breakfast!).
Serve with bread rolls, slice some pork, add some potato and a little onion... to make the sandwich... add more salt, if needed.
MORE RECIPES SOON!
