The hot and spicy nature of Peruvian food, created by ají and ajo (hot pepper and garlic), has become celebrated at home and abroad. Peruvians enjoy a wide variety of vegetables; there are over 2000 kinds of indigenous and cultivated potatoes alone. Table service is the norm in hotels and restaurants and many of them also offer buffet-type lunches.
National specialities:
- Tropical fruits are abundant, as are avocados.
- Ceviche is a local speciality (uncooked fish marinated in lemon or lime juice and hot chili pepper, served with fried corn, sweet potatoes, onions and flavoured with coriander).
- Escabeche is a cooked fish appetiser eaten cold, served with peppers and onions.
- Corvina is sea bass, which can be prepared in a variety of ways, and is always an excellent choice.
- Scallops (conchitas), mussels (choros), octopus (pulpo) and shrimps (camarones) are plentiful and delicious.
- Chupe de camarones is a chowder-type soup made with shrimps, milk, eggs, potatoes and peppers.
- Papa a la huancaina (yellow potato with cheese and chilli sauce).
- Arroz con choclo (rice with corn).
- Cau cau (tripe cooked with potato, peppers and parsley).
- Causa relleńa (potato cakes with chicken in the centre, but also cooked with avocado or crabmeat).
- Tamales (boiled corn dumplings filled with meat and wrapped in a banana leaf).
- Sopa criolla (spicy soup with beef and noodles).
- Ají de gallina (shredded chicken in a piquant cream sauce).
- Anticuchos (strips of beef or fish marinated in vinegar and spices, then barbecued on skewers).
- Lomo saltado (pieces of beef sautéed with onions and peppers, served with fried potatoes and rice).
- Rice and potatoes accompany virtually every dish.
- Traditional desserts are arroz con leche (rice pudding).
- Alfajores (wafer-thin spirals of shortbread dusted with icing sugar) and served with manjar blanco (a caramel sauce).
- Picarones (doughnuts served with syrup).
- Mazamorra morada (purple maize and sweet potato starch jelly cooked with lemons, dried fruits, cinnamon and cloves).
|
