Top 5 Dishes

We need to take advantage of species that there are in great abundance, we as chefs with the magic and the passion and the talent we have can provoke and convince people to consume them and influence the market. As chefs we can create a consciousness to inspire many other cooks. - Gaston Acurio

1. Ceviche

Perhaps the most famous dish is ceviche. Ceviche is raw seafood marinated in lime or lemon juice, garlic, onions, hot peppers; it is served with potatoes, sweet potatoes, yucca or maize. You can have scallop, white sea bass or corvina, calamari, shrimp, mixed and endless variations of ceviche.

2. Chupe De Camarones

On a recent visit to the coast of Peru I tried chupe de camarones – or shrimp chowder. This traditional dish is stock soup of crayfish mixed with potatoes, chili pepper and milk. It reminded me a Thai soup and I was certain there was some Asian influence. This is a classic Peruvian shrimp chowder is indeed a meal in itself..

3. Anticuchos

These skewers of grilled, marinated meat (much like shish kebabs) are served everywhere in Peru. High-end restaurants offer them as entradas, or appetizers. Street-cart vendors sell them slathered in a garlicky sauce. While almost any meat can be prepared this way, the most traditional—and best—anticuchos are made with beef heart, a practice believed to trace back to the days when Peru’s Spanish conquerors would consume a cow’s choicest cuts and leave the organs for their slaves.

Step by step: How to make anticuchos

4. Lomo Saltado

A hundred years before anyone had heard of Asian fusion cuisine, boatloads of Chinese immigrants arrived in Peru looking for work. The ingredients and techniques they added to Peru’s food vocabulary are probably best exemplified by this hearty hybrid stir-fry, in which beef, tomatoes, peppers, and onions are blended in a pan with soy sauce and fried potatoes. Not a dish for the carb-phobic; it’s usually served over white rice.

5. Causa

A visitor to any market in Peru is certain to find two things—hundreds of varieties of potatoes, which may have originated here (Peru’s longtime rival Chile also claims tuber originality), and piles of avocados large enough to toboggan down. A traditional causa layers these two ingredients into a sort of casserole, which is sliced and served cold. Other layers might contain tuna, meat, or hard-boiled egg.

For more information and the full article on traditional Peruvian food click here

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