Peru Pt I

They say Peru has some of the best food, not just in South America but in the world, so how is it that, to the best of my knowledge, I had never tried Peruvian food prior to visiting Peru? I didn't even know what Peruvian food was.
The morning after getting back from Martha's Vineyard, Tom and I took a 10-day vacation to visit Lima and Cusco, Peru. The highlight of the trip was supposed to be the 3-day hike and exploring Machu Picchu. While the hike was an experience I will never forget, the food was also a huge part our time spent there. Because the exchange rate was in our favor, we ate like a king and queen. Even though our apparel never reflected our "wealth", we visited the nicest restaurants we could find, .
Our first night in Lima, Tom wanted to go to Huaca Pucllana, a beautiful restaurant situated in Miraflores, adjacent to a Pre-Incan Archeological site (which was lit with tiny spotlights). Click on the restaurant's link to take a look.

We ordered Deep Fried Chicken, sautéed in a butter and Pisco Sauce for an appetizer that was absolutely to die for.


I ordered the Ceviche Pucllana: fish, shrimp, octopus and scallops marinated in lemon and yellow chili, served with yucca sticks.


Tom got another kind of ceviche. Each came with 3 different types of corn- corn we had never seen before. We learned that Peru is known for over a thousand varieties of potatoes and corn. Every type we tried was amazing... Who do I talk to about importing them??

Buffalo Wings

Superbowl Sunday... the beginning of the end for me.

I made my famous guacamole. Delish.

Then I also made Fried Buffalo Wings.


Washed and left to dry for 3 hrs in the fridge


The end result.

What I did to get there:
-separated the wings into 2 parts. Washed, let dry for a few hours as to eliminate oil splatter.
-heated a pot of canola oil
-made a special hot sauce of Red Cayenne Pepper Sauce (ie Red Devil), melted butter, cayenne pepper, and dried minced garlic
-deep fried the chicken wings, 4 at a time for about 6 minutes each batch. drained on paper towels
-coated in sauce
-Poured on
...But I gotta be honest with you. This is not my favorite blue cheese dressing. I would've made it myself, but I was already making so many other things. I chose this particular one because it was all natural. But it was too sweet for my taste.
-Chopped celery sticks
-Served on a platter only to inhale them minutes later.
Nom nom nom

Chicken with Coconut & Peanut "Curry"

I got dinner with my mom several days ago at Pongsri.
She got this delicious Pra Ram Long Song dish, and gave me the leftovers. It was so good I wanted to recreate it.

and I sorta did!

bowl is from CB2

*Please note that I didn't actually measure out teaspoons/tablespoons, but since people out there freak out about eyeing ingredients, I added measurements as close as to what I think I used....

"Curry"- I used quotations because this is a very simplified version.
1 can Coconut Milk
3 tablespoons peanut butter (2 tbsp Chunky, 1 tbsp Creamy, all-natural)
2 chicken breast fillets, sliced then cut into thirds
4 small Yukon potatoes, 1/8ed
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp reduced-sodium soysauce
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or to your tasting)
dash of hot chili sauce (i used sriracha)

-brown rice

-green beans, washed & ends trimmed
1 tsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
sesame seeds

mungbean sprouts

*******
Make brown rice.

To make the sauce...
I poured a can of coconut milk in a medium saucepan over a medium flame. I stirred in the peanut butter, fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, chili paste/sauce and crushed red pepper flakes. Add potatoes.

In a separate pan, lightly sauté chicken in a little canola oil and add to sauce. Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally.

In the same chicken pan, add a little canola oil and string beans. Now, I added the sesame seeds, but they like to fly everywhere when they're heated so add with caution. I like my string beans still crunchy, but you may want to blanch them first.
Definitely blanch them first in a little water! Drain out the water and add some soy sauce so it caramelizes with the beans. at the very last minute, add sesame seeds. toss and serve.

Check the potatoes, they should be fork-tender and the sauce should be creamy, bubbly and thick.

Pour "curry" over rice, add stringbeans and mungbean sprouts and voilà:


You will have a lot of sauce leftover, so make lots of rice and share with a friend :)