Crema de Habas is by far one of the most popular soups in Peru. However, it took me a long time to figure out that the long strange pods and beans contained therein were fava beans. The other day, now back home in Austin, Texas, I was extremely excited to see these same now-familiar beans at a Middle Eastern grocery store in town. However, if it is difficult to find fresh fava beans in your home town you can reconstitute and use dried beans or lima beans.  The color will be far less vivid, but the taste is still nice.

Crema de Habas

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh fava beans, prepared
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 key lime, juiced
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce (gluten-free if required)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh chopped parsley for garnish

 Preparation

1. Combine fava beans, broth, lime juice, and soy sauce in a food processor or blender and combine until smooth.
2. Season with salt and ground black pepper to taste.
3. Serve hot, garnished with chopped parsley.

This salad is our combination of two popular Peruvian salads. Ensalada de Chocolo uses Peruvian white corn and quesillo and Cho Cho is extremely popular with Andean ceviche and uses an endemic lupine bean. Since we can’t find fresh Andean lupine seeds in Texas we have opted to substitute soy seeds which are textually and nutritionally very similar.  Together the salads make a great well rounded duo!

Ensalada de Choclo y Chocho

Ingredients

• 2 ears of fresh sweet white corn, husked and roasted
• 16 ounces frozen edamame, defrosted
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup quesillo, crumbled
• 1 teaspoon aji amarillo paste (optional)
• Salt to taste

Preparation

Combine ingredients in a large bowl. Season with salt to taste and allow to marinate at least 10 minutes before serving.

In Peru, cremas are are thick pureed soups with a dairy base. As often as not, that base is quesillo.

Butternut Squash Crema

Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash, cooked
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup quesillo, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation

1. Bring the broth to a simmer, then remove from heat.
2. Combine the ingredients in a blender and combine until smooth. Add more water if necessary to reach the desired consistency.
3. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

This Greek-inspired salad uses a healthy portion of one of the most nutritious herbs that you’ve probably never heard of (though you might have seen growing in your sidewalk) – purslane!

Serve this salad as part of a nice home Meze platter, along with dolmas, hummus, pita, baba ganoush, and some olives for a refreshing Mediterranean meal.

Ingredients

• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 medium cucumber, peeled (optionally) and diced
• 1 cup purslane leaves
• 2 cups arugula
• 4 ounces feta, chunked or broken into small pieces
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (~2 lemons)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. In a large bowl, combine the chopped tomatoes, cucumber, purslane leaves, arugula, and feta.
2. Whisk together the lemon juice and olive oil, then pour over the vegetables.  Toss to coat.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Tacu Tacu is an Afro-Peruvian staple that can be garnished with anything from seafood stews to sauteed vegetables. This version is great with a fresh Ensalada Criolla.

Tacu Tacu with Ensalada Criolla

Ingredients

• 1 cup white rice, cooked
• 2 cups cooked black beans
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 small purple onions, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin seed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons Ají Amarillo or 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 key lime, juiced
• cooking spray
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat and saute the onion, garlic, and cumin until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
2. While the onions saute, combine rice and beans in a large bowl. Add the Ají Amarillo and mash the rice and beans together.
3. Add the sauteed mixture to the beans and lime juice and combine. Season with salt to taste.
4. Form palm-sized patties using about 1 cup of the mixture.
5. Spray the skillet with non-stick cooking spray and cook the patties over medium-high heat until slightly browned, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook the other side.

This salad makes a great side for burgers, tacos, or with any summer cookout that needs an extra tangy, flavorful punch.

Ensalada Criolla

Ingredients

• 2 medium avocados, cubed
• 1 pint tomatoes (we used sunburst), halved
• 1 medium red onion, julienned
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Allow to marinate for at least 10 minutes before serving.

I don’t know a lot about the foreign relations between Peru and Russia, but after seeing this salad on almost every menu in Peru I am not sure if it has something to do with the country of “Rusa” or if beets are synonymous with that nation everywhere in the world. Either way, all of these fresh veggies and a light mustard dressing make this salad is a winner.

Ensalada Rusa

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound of asparagus, chopped and steamed
• 3 beets, roasted, peeled, and cubed
• 2 medium carrots, sliced
• 1 cup of English peas

Dressing

• 1/2 teaspoon mustard, ground
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• pinch of salt
• ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Combine prepared vegetables and set aside.
2. Thoroughly mix the dressing ingredients until the oil and lime juice are incorporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Dress the salad and serve.

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!

Ingredients

• 8 ounces paneer, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
• 1 teaspoon whole cumin
• 1 teaspoon whole coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon whole mustard seed
• 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 serrano peppers, stemmed and roughly chopped
• 2 bunches (about 5 cups) sweet potato greens, stemmed and finely chopped
• 1 small bunch (about 2 cups) dandelion greens, stemmed and finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Prepared Basmati rice

Preparation

1. First, you need to prepare your fresh spices for the curry. Using a mortar and pestle or a clean coffee grinder, grind the whole cumin, coriander, and mustard seed into a powder. Set aside.
2. Use a food processor to finely chop the onion, ginger, garlic, and serranos down to a near paste-like consistency. Set aside.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium high heat.  Once the oil is hot and moves freely in the pan, add the paneer cubes and fry.  Turn the paneer cubes every 10 to 15 seconds or so to get all sides fried to a light golden brown.  Remove the fried paneer from heat and set aside. Discard the excess oil.
4. To prepare the curry, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil on medium-high heat in a large, heavy pot (a wok or karahi works best).  Add the ground spices and simmer in the oil for about 2 minutes until brown and fragrant.  Add the processed onions, ginger, garlic and serranos and lower the heat to medium. Fry this mixture for 10-12 minutes.  By the end of the 12 minutes, the onions should be browned and all the spices and fragrances should mellow and harmonize.
5. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the sweet potato greens, dandelion greens, and water. After about 5 minutes the greens should have cooked down to about half their original volume.  Reduce heat to medium and continue to cook for another 8 to 10 minutes until the greens are very soft.
6. Add the fried paneer and garam masala, and cook for about 1 minute more to get the paneer warmed.
7. Turn off the heat and stir in the yogurt.
8. Serve with prepared rice and enjoy!

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.

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!

JBG Ají

Ingredients

• 6 ounces mixed hot peppers, topped and (optionally) seeded
• 1 large Ringo pepper, chopped (or half of a yellow bell pepper) and seeded
• 2 medium cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup key lime juice
• Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Combine peppers, garlic, and lime juice in a food processor or blender and process until thoroughly chopped.
2. Season to taste, but be careful because those tastes will be hot!

Store in a glass container for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator (though you’ll probably use it up before then).