As many of you know, cooking is not my forte. I know how to make a few dishes and between those and the ones my husband makes, we manage to feed our family of four. Unlike most Latina women I know, I didn’t grow up in a household where women cooked and passed on their skills to the next generation. I grew up in an atypical Latina house where my father cooked because my mother (and her mother) where never taught how to — they had maids who took care of that.

While I see absolutely nothing wrong with a man cooking, my dad is no longer here. This means that unless I learn how to make Peruvian dishes, my children will have no connection to that part of their culture, except when we travel back to Peru, which sadly is not as often as I’d like.

In an effort to change that and because I want my children to have the same memories I had regarding home-cooked meals, I’ve been letting go of my fear of failing and have started adding more dishes to my very tiny repertoire of Peruvian fare. Yesterday, I tried making ceviche — the epitome of Peruvian cuisine and one of my dad’s specialties. Because I’ve only tried to make it a couple of times in the last eight years, yesterday’s attempt felt like the very first one as I made an actual meal of it and not just a tasting sample, like in the past.

And am I ever so glad I did! Although I’ll have to tweak a couple of minor things the next time I make it, I’m happy to report it was a major hit! The best part was that Vanessa tried ceviche for the first time ever and she liked it! I was so proud of her and of myself and the whole experience reminded me how happy my dad used to get when he saw us enjoying the food he’d so lovingly prepare. There’s power in being able to transmit one’s culture through food. Not to mention the immense love and care I took to attempt to live up to my father’s standards. I think he too would’ve been very proud.

Amazing the things we do for love, for our children and for keeping our culture alive, no?

Tell us, what have you done to make sure your children know about their Latino culture?

Lomo saltado

As I sit here craving una empanadita de carne con un vaso de chicha morada, I can’t help but think how awesome it would be if I knew how to cook Peruvian food. Sadly, this is not one of my talents…but I want to change that. I feel I owe to my bicultural children. In the meantime, I wanted to share some pictures of some of the delectable treats we were able to feast upon during our recent trip to Perú. Before we even got there, my husband — who is a professional photographer — told me he planned on taking pictures of every single plate of food he ate. While that didn’t really happen, (he was too busy stuffing himself), he did take pictures of many of them and we now have a small collection. For many people, Peruvian food is the equivalent of ceviche, papa a la Huncaina and lomo saltado, but there is so much more to the cuisine of my country. Besides the influences it has from other countries (Japan, China, Italy, to name a few), Perú is blessed with three very distinct geographical zones la costa (the coast), la sierra (the mountains) and la selva (the rainforest. The Amazon River is born in Perú). The following pictures only scratch the surface (as they mostly depict food from the coast), but it’s a way to introduce you to some of the flavorful eats of my homeland. Enjoy!

Foreground: Empanada de carne (our have a hard boiled eggs, aceitunas de botija and raisins). Background: Tamal verde (with cilantro) con salsa de cebolla (background) and a cold Inka Kola on the side.

A more detailed photo of a tamal verde with ají amarillo sauce on top.

Papa rellena (stuffed potato) with salsa criolla and rocoto, a Peruvian hot pepper.

This was my first ceviche, which I ate the day after we got to Perú, in a restaurant called Segundo Muelle. Peruvian corn is not sweet and its grains are very large. Ceviche is always served with camote — or sweet potato — which in this particular restaurant is served caramelized. Words cannot describe the intense flavor  of this dish.

Palta rellena (avocado stuffed with shredded chicken with artisan mayonnaise) topped with sliced and chopped rocoto and ají amarillo (Peruvian chili peppers).

Chita frita a la chorrillana with white rice (fried fish, probably fished earlier that morning, with onions, tomatoes, ají amarillo, potatoes and white rice). We stayed in a small hotel right on the beach and this was one of our lunches. Couldn’t get any fresher than this!

Tamal criollo, this one with pork inside and with salsa de cebolla (julienne-sliced red onion, ají amarillo and lime).

Pan frances con chicharron (with slices of sweet potato). This is from a place called La Antojeria which luckily — or unluckily for our waists — is only one block away from my abuelita’s apartment.

Corvina a lo macho with the ubiquitous white rice. Peruvians can’t live without white rice . A fillet of sea bass topped with a delish seafood sauce. Also from Segundo Muelle.

Pan de papa with all kind of sauces (ají amarillo, rocoto, artisan butter, chimichurri) to spread on top. The photo above and the x that follow where all taken at Panchita, one of the newer restaurants opened by the very talented Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio — considered by many as the one responsible for the rise in popularity of Peruvian cuisine around the world.

It’s really hard to explain how exquisite the food — mostly criollo cuisine — was at this restaurant. Everything we tasted from the bread to the espresso we drank to conclude our festín was absolutely decadent. It was only 12 noon when my husband and I arrived for lunch — we were one of the first ones there, although not for long — but on my sister’s recommendation, I opted for a Maracuyá sour, a fruitier version of our famed Pisco sour. I was not disappointed! I must also mentioned that I was pleasantly surprised by the restaurant’s decor which was very true to its criollo cuisine theme with rich colors and a wood oven where the pan de papa is baked.

Empanadas fritas mixtas which reminded my husband of his homeland’s empanadillas (because they were fried instead of baked) except for their filling: choclo, ají de gallina, lomo saltado and carne.

Chuletas de chancho fritas con tacu tacu a lo pobre. Fried pork chops with tacu tacu (a fried mixture of black beans and white rice) and a fried egg with salsa criolla on the side. My husband ate until the last grain of rice had disappeared!

Seco de cabrito. This very popular dish from the Northern coast of Peru — my dad’s tierra — is basically a goat stew marinated in chicha de jora (an alcoholic drink made from fermeted maíz). My dad used to make a mean seco… I can almost taste it!

Merengado de lúcuma con crema chantilly. Mousse made of lúcuma, a fruit native to Perú, with pieces of meringue and crema chantilly, a sort of whipped cream but much more decadent (it has powdered sugar and vanilla). As I looked over this photo gallery, I realized I’ve barely included photos of desserts, but not for lack of choices. I guess we just devoured them as soon as they were served!

Last, but not least, una chela bien fría or an ice cold Peruvian beer. Cusqueña is my fave and what I had to drink with most of my meals, unless I went for a Pisco Sour. There’s just something about its taste that goes perfect with la comida criolla de mi Perú.

*** All images © José A. Guzman ***

Photo by tomaszd

Although it will never and I repeat NEVER be like the one you can have in a real cevichería in any of the many places along the coast of the capital of the beautiful country where I was born – and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise – I’d still like to share with you my father’s recipe for Peruvian ceviche-the authentic one. (I’m just a bit biased, can you tell?)

But before we even get there, let me just tell you the reasons why I’m doing this. First, it is HOT as hell in Denver. I’m actually sitting in front of my laptop wearing almost nothing and even though all the windows are wide open and thank God there’s a breeze and the sun has gone down, igual me estoy derritiendo! So, nothing would make me happier than eating un ceviche acabadito de hacer in front of the most majestic of all oceans – the Pacific – with an ice-cold beer… ok, ok… enough daydreaming, I’ll have to settle for the view of the beautiful evergreens I can see from my home office’s window and a cold glass of limonada (let’s not forget I’m pregnant).

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know I’m no cook. Well neither am I an expert in this subject, but one thing is for sure, my father was a cook, an excellent one, if I do say so myself. And so, my family was treated daily to his manjares. One of his favorites? Ceviche.

You’ll probably be surprised and incredulous when you see how simple the ingredients and how easy the preparation. We’re talking fresh fish, freshly squeezed lime juice, onions, salt and ají or hot peppers. Eso es todo.

In case you’re wondering how legit all this is, you may or may not know that even though there are many variations of ceviche depending on where you hail from in our great, big Latin American continent, the ORIGINAL version is from PERU!

Ok, enough bragging… Here goes:

INGREDIENTS

Photo by adamjtaylor

- 1.5 lbs. white-fleshed fish such as Sea Bass (aka corvina) or Sole (aka lenguado)

- 1 red onion thinly sliced

- 1/2 ají limo rojo or rocoto (these are Peruvian chiles, but sometimes you can find them in Latino supermarkets)

- Juice from 16 key limes

- salt

DIRECTIONS

First, you’ll need to cut the fish into small chunks (about 1/2 an inch thick) and mix it with the sliced red onion.
Then, you have to wash these two ingredients and then make sure you drain them thoroughly. Afterwards, you add the salt and the ají limo. (FYI: if you can’t find it, you might want to try a Serrano chile, it’s not the same, but it’s not bad.)
Mix in the freshly squeezed key lime juice.
Wait 5 minutes, add a few ice cubes to refresh the ingredients, mix well and remove them before they melt.

Serve the ceviche immediately accompanied by Peruvian corn and sweet potato (as in the imagine above).

That’s it! Just remember: FRESH, FRESH, FRESH is the key to success!!

Before I leave you, I’d like to explain that the reason why you’ll never be able to duplicate the taste of the ceviche you would eat in Lima has to do mainly with the ingredients. Even though the key lime is the closest thing to the Peruvian lime used in this recipe, it’s really not the same. Believe it or not, the same can be said about the fish and I guess it has something to do with the Pacific Ocean and its temperatures along Peru’s capital. So don’t feel bad, you just have to visit to see what I’m talking about

By the way, I have a disclaimer: I only recently dared to prepare this typical Peruvian dish mostly because I was afraid I’d suck and having a cook for a father, I’m sure you can imagine the pressure. Although I haven’t made it too many times, with each one it gets better and the best part is that it reminds me of how mi pobre padre had to hide the bowl he’d make it in because we’d try to devour it even before the table was set for lunch!

¡Qué lo disfruten!

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