Just like the country itself, Peruvian food is a mix of different things and different flavours. It is often a juxtaposition of things you wouldn’t think would work together, starchy and spicy, rich and tart, robust and delicate. Apart from the fantastic sights and experiences in the country, Peruvian food is an experience all to itself. When you find yourself in one of the many restaurants in Lima, Peru these are the dishes you really need to try.
This is a given. Nothing says Peruvian cuisine like ceviche. While chefs and cooks the world over have added their own twists to the dish, authentic Peruvian ceviche is essentially made up of 5 ingredients: sea bass, lime juice, salt, onion and aji chili. The fish is marinated in the acidic mix for just minutes, firming up the flesh of the fish without actually cooking it with the acid. An oddly perfect side to the dish is sweet potato. You wouldn’t expect it, but the sweet potato is the perfect starch to pair with the dish. Like most boutique hotels Lima hotels will most likely have a version of this, so you can start from there.
There is plain old rotisserie chicken and then there’s Pollo A La Brasa. There’s nothing like roasted Peruvian Chicken. The recipe starts simply enough. Chicken is rubbed with a pungent mix of garlic, herbs and spices and left to marinade for a couple of hours. It is then roasted like you would a rotisserie chicken. What sets Pollo A La Brasa apart from your regular supermarket rotisserie chicken is the green huacatay (Peruvian black mint) sauce that often comes with it. Every family has its own heavily guarded recipe and roasted chicken will never be the same after Pollo A La Brasa.
Lomo Saltado or stir-fried beef is the perfect marriage between Chinese cooking techniques and Peruvian flavours. You wouldn’t think that Chinese influence would reach as far as Peru but Peruvian food is actually heavily influenced by Chinese flavors and cooking techniques. Lomo Saltado actually uses soy sauce to marinate the meat.
This recipe doesn’t seem like such a hot idea at first. It’s just basically potatoes in cheese sauce. But the heat from the aji chili, the complex saltiness from both the queso fresco and the saltine crackers lend this cheese sauce a complex flavor that you wouldn’t expect from such a homely dish. Like most Peruvian boutique hotels in Lima will likely also have this ubiquitous dish served with all of their meals.
Aji de Gallina is the meat-lover’s version of Papas A La Huancaina. Meat is cooked in a rich and velvety stew made of condensed milk, aji chili and thickened with white bread sans crust.
Anticuchos de Corazaon translates to grilled hearts. Most western tourists will turn their noses at the dish but they don’t know what they’re missing. Leaner than filet mignon but with more robust flavours than a rib-eye the ferric after taste can take a little getting used to. But the flavour is deep and rich and when that open fire kisses the meat, there’s nothing like it.
I saved this for last because even I was a little taken aback by the dish. Cuy is Peruvian for guinea pig, roasted guinea pig to be exact. To me, guinea pigs are more like pets than dinner so I had a little bit of a hard time with this. But the meat was succulent and gamey and the skin was a lot like pork crackling. Once you get over the initial shock of what Cuy actually is, you might be able to actually enjoy it.