Get a good dose of your summer greens with this hearty curry!  If you don’t have sweet potato and dandelion greens (often available during the summer at your local farmers’ market), you can substitute spinach, kale, chard, or nearly any other kind of greens in their place.

Sweet Potato Greens Saag Paneer

Paneer is an Indian fresh cheese. You can also substitute widely available dense, un-aged Hispanic fresh cheeses that  may be sold under a variety of names including, but not limited to, queso fresco, queso blanco, or panela. However,  for the best results, we suggest making your own fresh cheese at home!

Saltado is a dish that typifies Peru’s multicultural cuisine. It is essentially a stir-fry that combines eastern and Latin flavors with fried potatoes.  It is fairly easy to find vegetarian saltados in Peruvian restaurants, but the most popular version by far is beef loin, or lomo, saltado.  This recipe uses wheat roast instead of beef, but portobello mushrooms, seitan, and tofu all make great saltados as well.

Vegetarian Saltado

Ingredients

• 1 pound yellow potatoes, sliced into 1/4-inch thick strips
• 1 pound wheat roast, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices.
• 1 large red onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tablespoon ají amarillo paste or 1 minced hot pepper
• 2 tomatoes, seeded and cut into eighths
• 1/2 pound sweet peppers, such as bell, sliced into strips
• 2 medium carrots, julienned
• 1/4 pound snow peas or snap peas
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Pisco (optional)
• olive oil cooking spray
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 key limes

Preparation

1. Liberally coat a baking sheet with cooking spray. Arrange potato slices in a single layer and spray with oil and season with a pinch of salt. Cook potato slices in the oven, preheated to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow to bake for 20-30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic, and ginger and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add wheat roast and saute for another minute.
3. Add ají, tomatoes, snow peas, peppers, parsley, spices, vinegar, Pisco, and soy sauce. Cook until tomatoes are softened and the peas and peppers are tender.
4. Add prepared potatoes, and quickly toss together. Remove from heat when all ingredients are at a consistent temperature.
5. Sprinkle with lime juice before serving.  Serve with an ají of your choice.

Fresh fruit juices are an inexpensive and popular breakfast staple around Peru. Most such juices are made in ordinary blenders which makes the process and clean-up extremely easy while creating a delicious, frothy beverage.

Fresh Pineapple Juice

Ingredients

• 1 whole fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 1 1/2 cups cold water
• sugar to taste (optional)
• ground cinnamon or nutmeg

Preparation

1. Combine the fruit and water in a blender and process until smooth.
2. Add sugar to taste, if desired.  Blend to mix in the sugar.
3. Serve over ice, and top with a sprinkle of ground nutmeg or cinnamon.

The color of a ripe pineapple can vary by variety so the best rule of thumb is to pick one that has a good fragrant smell and that gives just a little to a very firm grip.

To slice a fresh pineapple remove the top with a long sharp knife and remove enough from the bottom to create a flat surface. Then, stand the decapitated pineapple up and slice the rest of the skin off in long even sections. This will result in an octagonal fruit. Finally, slice the pineapple into quarters and remove the core.  Slice as directed.

This Peruvian-inspired hot pepper sauce, or ají, is a great way to add some tangy heat to your meals.  Ajíes are commonly used as a tabletop condiment, but they also make a nice spicy base for sautes and stir fries.  As a commenter below pointed out, aji is actually the word for a species of chili pepper, but we found the term to be used pretty interchangeably for any pepper-based spicy table condiment in Peru and Ecuador.

We made this ají with seasonal peppers, including serranos, hinkelhatz, and sweet Ringos, from Johnson’s Backyard Garden in Austin, TX.  We seeded about half of the hot peppers, but feel free to seed more if you don’t like a lot of heat, or less if you like more!