Week 18 - Peruvian

There are so many great dishes that are part of Peruvian cuisine, from their rotisserie chicken and ceviche, to aji de gallina and lomo saltado. What would I pick for Week 18, Peruvian week? 

I didn't want to spend too much time searching for hard to find ingredients (like aji amarillo, which eliminated a bunch of dishes), but still wanted to do something that was distinctly Peruvian. I didn't want to do roast chicken or ceviche. Arroz chaufa is popular there, but that's basically Chinese fried rice, and I didn't feel right doing that for Peruvian week when I can make Chinese fried rice anytime I want (and have). 

After looking through tons of recipes, I finally found one that spoke to me: ensalada de choclo, a corn salad which traditionally uses choclo, the large kernel corn that you find in the Andes. Even though we live in NYC, I wasn't sure I could find choclo in the stores (which Wikipedia tells me is also called Peruvian corn or Cuzco corn), but if not, I hoped I could at least replicate the flavor of the salad with regular corn. I was definitely going to take a look though.

We don't have many grocery stores in our area that cater to Latin American populations, so we took advantage of a weekend trip to Brooklyn for family day to stop by a Bravo market to pick up some queso fresco and see if they had the elusive choclo. They did! Although the choclo was not cheap, I wanted to try it in the salad, so we could taste everything the way it should be.

I found a few recipes for ensalada de choclo online, but they all had almost the exact same ingredient list. I adapted the recipe for what I had, so we used:

- 1 lb cooked corn kernels ($4.29)

- 1 red pepper, finely chopped ($0.99)

- 1/2 large red onion, finely chopped ($0.42)

- 10 oz queso fresco, cut into small cubes ($3.29)

- 3 tbsp olive oil ($0.60)

- 3 tbsp lime juice ($0.80)

- 1/4 cup cilantro, minced ($0.60)

- salt and pepper to taste ($0.10)

The ensalada de choclo cost about $11. NOT CHEAP AT ALL. I sort of expected that once we took the leap and purchased the choclo for over $4. On top of that, cheese is not inexpensive, and we made this during limepocalypse and bottled lime juice is pricey. Sure, this made generous sides for our dinner, and I had an entire container left over for other meals, but $11?! Making this with regular corn would knock a few dollars off of that total, but that's still not very inexpensive. If I'm going to make this more often, maybe I should start buying the giant packages of queso fresco from Costco.

The corn kernels really were gigantic. To cook them, the package said to boil them in sugared water until they were tender. I let them go for at least 10 minutes until I thought they were cooked and tender. After eating them, A said they probably could have cooked for longer, but I'm no choclo expert. I wish the bag had given a time estimate!

Making the salad is really easy. You whisk the lime juice into the olive oil with some salt and pepper, combine all the other ingredients in a large bowl, add the dressing, and then add salt and pepper to taste. That's it.

The salad was colorful, that's for sure!

We paired it with some panko crusted chicken that came out of our freezer, which was a good combination.

This salad was really good, and tasted even better later in the week after it had chilled and the flavors had melded more. The choclo didn't have the same sweetness you get from regular corn and was more starchy. The red peppers and onions were good mixed in, and the queso fresco added the perfect amount of salty cheesiness. Although we're still partial to esquites, this salad was really good. Very refreshing and light.

I'm glad we were able to try the ensalada de choclo with choclo, the way it was supposed to be. If I make it again, I'll probably just use regular corn instead of searching out the expensive frozen choclo, but I think it'll still be good that way. That's two great corn salads this spring with this and the esquites. I'm ready for summer!

Otra Vez Arroz Con Pollo

Since my first visit to the Peruvian cart Manos Peruanas (when I enjoyed a lovely arroz con pollo lunch), I have returned and tried more dishes. The only problem is that I forgot to write about them at the time. Now that I went back as part of the goodbye tour, I might as well mention them all here!

One cold winter day, I tried the aji de gallina. Set over a bed of white rice, the dish consisted of pulled chicken in a sauce of aji amarillo (a yellow Peruvian pepper) and parmesan cheese. There were also potatoes, half of a hard boiled egg and an olive.

This was basically chicken in cheesy creamy pepper sauce over rice and potatoes. I had gone there with the intention of getting arroz con pollo again, but the creamy chicken stew just seemed so comforting and warming for the winter weather. It definitely was both of those things, but it was also really, really creamy. Which means the dish is a little rich and you will get food coma. Tasty but a little too heavy for me to get on a regular basis.

Another cold winter day I went to order arroz con pollo (again) but the menu said it now came accompanied by papa a la huancaina. I had never tried that before but had seen it listed separately on the menu, so I thought this would be great - two dishes in one! It looked like creamy potatoes in the photo so I figured it would be warming and comforting like the aji de gallina. Which would be perfect since it was 23 degrees out.

What I didn't know when I ordered, having never tried papa a la huancaina before, was that it is supposed to be a cold dish. It consisted of two large pieces of boiled potato (basically, an entire potato) covered in huancaina sauce. Wikipedia tells me that huancaina sauce is made up of cheese, aji amarillo, evaporated milk, oil and salt (and sometimes garlic, onion and crushed Saltines). The sauce was tasty, but I don't remember it being that spicy. I also hadn't been expecting the potatoes to be cold so that was a bit of a shock after eating warm bites of chicken and rice. I was glad to try this Peruvian staple since it expanded my Peruvian food horizons, but I preferred the arroz con pollo with just the rice and onions.

All of which leads up to my most recent visit, when I went back to get some more arroz con pollo (third time's the charm?). They asked me if I wanted to have it with just rice or also some potatoes, and I enthusiastically asked for just the rice. Since I don't know when I can have this next (unless I go again this week), I wanted to make sure I got my fill of the cilantro rice with peas.

The arroz con pollo was good. It was a drumstick and thigh set over the cilantro rice with lots of the peppery red onion mixture. The chicken was a little drier than last time but still pretty moist and flavorful. The onions were as good as always. Adding the green hot sauce (not pictured) made this so delicious. I was so happy with lunch.

I highly recommend Manos Peruanas for a Peruvian lunch in Midtown. Whether you're looking for a healthier meal like arroz con pollo or something creamy and comforting like aji de gallina, they cover all the bases. And I don't know anyone else in Midtown that does what they do!

Manos Peruanas

It was cold and rainy at lunch today, so I didn't make it more than a few blocks away. I was in the mood for something comforting and filling that I didn't need to eat with my hands, and the dishes at the Manos Peruanas cart fit the bill.

I decided on the arroz con pollo, described as chicken with cilantro rice.

The arroz con pollo I got looked very similar to its cart photo.  It was a container full of cilantro rice (which also contained peas), topped with a drumstick and a breast meat piece of chicken which was well-stewed and seasoned, and covered in red onions.

This was really tasty.  I loved how the chicken fell off the bone, the spicy green sauce, the crunchy red onions, the seasoned soft rice.  A very satisfying and filling lunch.  I would definitely return for more.

The Manos Peruanas cart is located on 47th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.