Huevo chimbo, huevo quimbo, tajadon, tajadon de Trujillo, huevos reales… there are many names for this traditional dessert from the XVI century. We inherited this recipe from Spanish nuns, who were experts in the preparation of many sweets. These talented ladies found in this dessert a delicious way to make good use of leftover egg yolks that ended up in the kitchen after making meringues and many other puddings with the whites. Egg whites were also put to good use, and there are even stories that claim that they were used to make cement to build churches.

The original recipe for huevo chimbo came from Spain, and these nuns spread it all over Latin America; that is why it’s known from Mexico to Chile, with similar names, and only slight variations in the preparation. In Nicaragua, however, huevos chimbos is a completely different thing, but I believe this is the only exception.

If you’re still looking for a dessert to make for Christmas, this may be a good choice as it is gluten free, making it celiac-friendly, and it should be served cold, which means you can have it ready in the fridge and take it out before serving time.

Note: In Peru, the syrup has a high Pisco content, but you can use 1 or 2 tablespoons of the liquor, instead of 1/2 cup, or leave it out of the recipe if you are going to serve it to kids.

Have you tried tarwi? This ingredient is also known as chocho in other parts of Latin America, and as lupini bean in Europe, although the latter is a slightly different variety. Tarwi is very nutritious but hard to cook, so it should be soaked for hours and cooked changing the water several times to get rid of its bitterness and of the toxic compounds of the plant.

To me, the solution is to buy jarred chochos or lupini beans, which you can use in several dishes, all of them with the delicious bite of the giant “bean“. I love to include them in cebiches or in stews, for example. This cebiche is a very light appetizer, and a great option to make when the season’s festivities are over and you’re trying to eat healthy again.

Christmas in Peruvian tables means roast turkey or pork. Sometimes chicken or duck take their place, but without a doubt turkey is the absolute centerpiece of the celebration. Along with the bird, a variety of colorful and succulent side dishes are served.

There is always a huge bowl with salad, and a hot baking dish with baked sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows, or sweet potato puree. Applesauce is something not to be missed, and sometimes quince puree brings its delicious flavor to the buffet as well.

But no dinner is complete in Peru -Christmas or not- without one or more rice dishes. During the holidays, these must contain several colors and textures, attained by adding fruits, vegetables, bacon, and more. I like to think of these dishes as chopped salads, perfect to mop up the turkey sauce (or pork or chicken sauce), and of course, to eat as leftovers the following day.

Peru is the second biggest consumer of panettone (we call it panetón) in the world. No Christmas is complete in our homes, without a neverending supply of panetón during the whole month of December. But what do with the leftovers after Christmas? Once the festivities are over, I always  look for mouthwatering ideas to use whatever is left, in particular the turkey and panetón.

If we have several mini panettone, I like to fill them with ice cream and store them in the freezer, well wrapped, to continue enjoying them as far as April or May. Bread pudding is one of my favorite homey desserts, and I also find that using leftover panetón instead of regular bread is easy and delicious.

This is a very basic recipe but feel free to add whatever you like. Raisins, perhaps? Or how about candied fruit or candied orange peel, or 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup toasted almonds or pecans? I don´t usually add anything else because panetón is already studded with fruits and raisins, but no two palates are exactly the same, and who am I to tell you how much sweetness or richness you should add to your dish?

To make it, line the bottom of a tube pan with golden brown caramel. Then combine all the ingredients in a bowl and pour onto the prepared pan. Bake in a hot water bath for about an hour, and when you take it out of the oven the pudding will be puffed and nicely golden. Cool before unmolding it.

Serve it just like that or with butterscotch or ice cream. Custard is also one of my favorites.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

//This post was created in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect, and Maseca. However, all recipes, stories, and points of view are our own.//

Huacho is a beautiful place north of Lima, with pleasant, mild weather, and many farms famous for their mouthwatering avocados and mangoes, amongst other fruits. Huacho is also famous for the quality of its prepared food, especially for its sausages, which are very similar to Mexican chorizos but have a unique spicy and garlicky flavor. They are simply called salchichas de Huacho (Huacho´s sausages).

Once in a while I love to have a traditional country breakfast of scrambled eggs made with crumbled and fried Huacho sausages. Some people add diced fried potatoes or yucca to this, and even make a hearty sandwich filled with the tasty preparation.

With these ideas in mind, and a bag of Maseca (one of my favorite ingredients) lying around in the kitchen, I suddenly had the urge to make corn muffins for breakfast, and add the brightly colored sausage to the preparaion.

So I baked a batch  and here they are in all their glory! You won´t need instructions on how to save these muffins for later, because I seriously doubt they will last for long.

Making muffins is really easy but it has its tricks. First of all, you need to preheat the oven. Then combine the sifted dry ingredients, make a well in the center, and add the liquid ingredients. Everything needs to be at room temperature when you do this. You won’t need a mixer, just a few strokes with a spatula -here less is actually better- to mix everything together, and that’s it. The batter should look lumpy, so don’t even worry about making it smooth.

The baking time is short, just 20-25 minutes, but I like to start checking at 20 because I want to make sure the muffins won’t burn in the oven.

Maseca is a versatile ingredient that gives a melt-in-your-mouth texture to baked goods that I really love. That is exactly what it does with these muffins, and while you’re baking them your kitchen will smell like a real house in the country. To me this is the perfect way to welcome the New Year, don´t you think?

Even though it’s not an ingredient usually used in Peru, I’m Central American, so I love to use Maseca in many ways. For instance, I can make Peruvian dishes with a twist, and so far, I’ve always been happy with the results. If you come visit me, I can make you some Peruvian tamalitos made with Maseca, and see what you think.

Chupe is a traditional Andean soup with a thick consistency, which usually has lots of robust vegetables and legumes such as potatoes and fava beans. Our most famous chupe is made with shrimp, and crowned with a fried or poached egg, but you can really make it with any ingredients you have at hand. Fava beans and barley are yet another great combination, that will keep you warm in the winter.

I’ve replaced the typical milk that goes in the preparation, with Greek yogurt. Traditionally, chupe was a dairy free soup, as the Incan culture considered dairy to be taboo. The milk and cheese cubes added to many chupes nowadays  are the result of the Spanish influence on our food.

Click here for the recipe.

Even though this has become trendy only in the last few year, I have been a huge fan of non-dairy milk for a very, very long time. I attribute part  of my fantastic health to my delicious repertoire of almond, pecan, pistachio, cashew, peanut, and many other kinds of milks, that I don’t buy, but make at home instead.

The last addition to this list is quinoa milk. The first time I tried it (just a few weeks ago), I soaked the quinoa overnight but did not sprout it, so I had doubts about drinking it. Could it be toxic? I lived to tell the story, but the next time I made it, I decided to sprout the seeds for a few hours first. If you don’t know this fact, sprouting seeds, grains, and legumes, usually makes them more digestible. As a bonus, sprouting the quinoa seeds also made them slightly sweet, perfect for this milk.

Sometimes I make my milks with plain water, but when I want something a bit more special I use spiced water, which adds a layer of flavor to the milk, and in my opinion, is quite delicious. The resulting milk is slightly thick and creamy, and I don´t strain it but stir or shake it before serving  instead.

You may add honey -last week I added 1/2 teaspoon avocado flower honey, and it was great-,  algarrobina (carob syrup), or some raw sugar. I don’t think it is really necessary, but if you have an indomitable sweet tooth, these are my suggestions.

I love to have a glass of this magic potion in the morning with 1 teaspoon maca flour, because it gives me energy to start the day, or as a mid-morning pick me up. It´s also wonderful with oatmeal, but I try to add it at the end, instead of cooking the oats in it, because I like to keep it raw to get as many healthy quinoa nutrients as I can. Sprouts in particular are full of living enzymes, so I like to make the most of them, instead of killing them in the pan.

Christmas may be over, but homes are still filled with December leftovers. In Peru, that means one thing: Paneton. Our version of the Italian panettone is by far the most popular product during the holidays, and most people probably have a few slices still lingering in their kitchens.

For them, and for anyone who loves either panettone, or French toasts, we wanted to share the Paneton French toast with aguaymantos recipe we created for Latinamom.me. You can also read more about the history of this tradition, and even learn how to make a paneton from scratch, in this other article we wrote for the same website.

For other fun ways to use your paneton leftovers, check out our Paneton Bread Pudding, or our Paneton Filled with Ice Cream (especially handy for those who are enjoying the Peruvian summer right now!).

Jelly-rolls are known as piononos in Peru, and are one of the most popular desserts of all time in Lima. This cake, usually stuffed with manjarblanco (dulce de leche), is not only present in many birthday parties, baby showers, first communions, and other social events, but can also be found freshly-baked in most corner stores, where you can get a slice to eat on the go, just like people do with cupcakes in the US.

Last month I wanted to create a special chocolate dessert for the holidays, and made a pionono mousse cake which was published in Que Rica Vida. Making it is actually much simpler than it looks, so don’t be intimidated and try it next time you want to bake to impress. You won’t regret it.

I have no idea how many recipes for roast chicken there are, but what I can tell you is that I’ve tried many, and this is one of  my favorites. Pollo al durazno, as we call it in Spanish, is very easy to make, and I can fix everything in advance and bake it at the last minute while I make the side dishes I’ll serve with it. Usually, these only include some garlicky rice -white and fluffy-, and a salad. Depending on my mood, and on the season, I’ll add some roasted sweet potatoes too.

Sometimes I don´t have the time to marinate the chicken and bake it immediately, but even when I don’t,the result is delicious. When left marinating overnight, however, it becomes infused with the flavors of this juice, and it reaches a whole new level of taste. To this marinade, you may add some Pisco or better yet, white wine. A few dried herbs also work wonders.

The spotlight of this entree belongs to the canned peaches added to the chicken while it roasts, giving a bright color and a sweet and summery note to the dish. If it’s summer, and they’re in season, you can use very ripe fresh peaches. But we all know ripe peaches can be hard to find. They usually need a few days on your kitchen counter to develop the right texture and sweetness. So whenever you’re in a rush, can’t be bothered to look for them, or they are simply out of season, don’t think twice and get canned or jarred ones instead.

I like to drain them and then dry them with a kitchen towel. After that I grill them in a pan until they get charred marks on top. After this I place them on top of the chicken pieces for the final 10 minutes, to warm up in the oven. The result is amazing. Canned apricots or pineapple are great too!

Even though I never eat it, I like to cook the chicken with the skin on to keep the flesh from drying out in the oven. The skin seals the moisture in, giving succulent meat every time. Besides, it acquires a beautiful golden brown color, which I like to look at on my plate, because there is nothing less appealing than pale and colorless food, especially when it comes to meat, don´t you think?

Do you have leftovers? Shred the chicken and make a sandwich or a salad the following day. You will have a nice lunch to take to work or put in your kids’ lunchboxes.

A new cookbook about quinoa, our mighty seed, has been published. The author, famous historian and writer Sara Beatriz Guardia, writes about the history of quinoa, and how this crop was kept in the shadows and almost forgotten for three centuries, only to be reborn with a bang and become a huge success around the world. It´s a miraculous tale of nature’s survival and strength.

I´m honored to be a part of this amazing book, as Sara Beatriz, one of my favorite authors, kindly invited me to share a recipe with her. My colorful quinoa pilaf is amongst the 27 recipes created by famous chefs from Peru and many other countries, and I couldn´t be more excited and grateful.

This beautiful book has been nominated  by the prestigious Gourmand World Cookbooks Awards as Best Single Subject Book, and the ceremony will be held in May, in the city of Beijing. I´ll keep you posted about the ceremony.

China is welcoming the Year of the Horse today. This day marks a new beginning, and is celebrated with ceremonies and food festivals all over the country and overseas. For several days, Chinese people all over the world will celebrate the arrival of the New Year in their unique and colorful way, ending these festivities with the beautiful lantern festival, two weeks later.

In Peru, there is a large Chinese population that has kept its roots and traditions alive through several generations. In our Barrio Chino -or Chinatown- there will be parades, store owners will sell amulets for the New Year, and restaurants will be packed with diners, not only Chinese but of all ethnicities. As you may know, Peruvians have been in love with Chinese food for many decades. A proof of this is that most of our streets are filled with Chifas (Chinese restaurants with a slight Peruvian fusion). What better way to welcome the Chinese New Year than feasting at one of the best Chifas in town?

For me, this is yet another excuse to enjoy many of the Chinese dishes I love. Today, I have made some fish anticuchos, served with an Oriental sauce that has a sweet and savory combination of flavors that I love. These anticuchos are very easy to make. Just make sure you buy the freshest fish you find, and have everything ready before you start cooking. You will have a delicious fusion meal on the table in a matter of minutes.

As a side, I recommend some vegetarian arroz chaufa, or tallarin saltado. Plain white rice or stir fried vegetables are also good accompaniments for this dish.

One of the sweetest, simplest, and most satisfying  desserts from Lima are homemade crêpes filled with dulce de leche. The crêpes I’m talking about are not as thin and delicate as the French originals, even though they are clearly inspired by them. Maybe this puffier characteristic is the reason why they are called “panqueques” (pancakes) instead. I guess, in a way, they are a hybrid between the two, so they are hard to define as either one.

When you spread them with dulce de leche, you have a lovely dessert in a few minutes. You can serve them plain or garnish them with berries and mint leaves. Sometimes I also like to pour melted chocolate on top, or dust them with cocoa powder.

I like to make the batter a couple hours in advance, or even the night before. And sometimes, I cook all the crêpes at once, because they keep well in the fridge, and they freeze beautifully. To store them, I wait until they are completely cool, and then I stack them between layers of parchment paper or plastic film. I then put them in a plastic bag and pop them in the freezer. This way I can have one or two whenever I have a craving, and create different desserts with ice cream, mousse, or fruits, depending on my mood on that specific day. You can also use them to make savory dishes with mushrooms, asparagus, spinach, cheese, or any other filling.

When I don´t feel like making my own dulce de leche, the store bought version is perfectly fine. It´s not only practical but so delicious too!

See? Making dessert doesn’t have to be a complicated task. In fact, it can be so easy that you won’t have an excuse to keep yourself from enjoying a sweet little something after every meal.

As much as I love a good lomo saltado, I also like to vary it a bit, and make a seafood saltado to serve as a charming and delicious appetizer. If you do this, forget about the French fries or rice that usually accompany this dish, as they won’t be necessary. When I make this version, I use scallop shells as mini dishes and spoons at the same time. Pretty and practical.

For a little dramatic effect, place some salt in the center of the plate, drizzle with a splash of alcohol, and light with a match. My only advice is to be extremely careful with your hands when you do this!

Don’t you think this is a lovely and romantic dish that would fit perfectly in a Valentine´s Day dinner table? It cooks in the blink of an eye, is very tasty, and the presentation is stunning.  Your significant other (or your friends!) will most likely be impressed, and you will spend less time in the kitchen, and more time enjoying each other’s company.

These tasty fritters make wonderful nibbles, a delicious appetizer or even a nice, light entree. The quinoa gives them an extra layer of texture -and a nutritional boost-, and makes them fancy and modern.

My brother, Roberto Cuadra, came up with this recipe, which he serves with finely shredded and fried green plantains. To complete the dish he adds a few avocado slices, maybe some roasted eggplant, and aji amarillo mayonnaise. I like to serve these fritters with passion fruit syrup, or candied rocoto, but I also love to buy those amazing jars containing artisanal habanero pepper jelly to drizzle over the chicken. I warn you… this is hot stuff (but so good)!

Vary this recipe to suit your taste. Instead of chicken use pork or fish. Use quinoa in any color you want (but I really think the white one looks better). Serve sweet potatoes or regular potatoes instead of plantains. Make tartar sauce or serve with Hoisin sauce for an Eastern flavor. Or just mix lime juice with salt and 5 spice powder for a different taste.

This incredibly flavored green rice is one of the most famous dishes in Chiclayo, north of Lima. Cooks in this region use the rice harvested in local farms, fragrant cilantro leaves -never the stems-, peas, and a well fed female duck, to make this legendary entree.

Ancient Peruvians were very fond of native ducks, and they loved to prepare several dishes with these tasty birds. With the arrival of rice, onions, and cilantro to our country, this recipe was created. Arroz con pato is the perfect fusion of foreign and native ingredients, and it has been raising many foodie’s hearts for quite a long time.

Of course, there are hundreds of variations. Some cooks, like myself, add beer to the stock because it gives the finished dish a unique depth of flavor. Others make it not so green, or cook it risotto-style. Believe me, every single version of it is to die for.

Rice with chicken is very similar, but perhaps easier to make at home. And the vegetarian variation that we always made at home for my daughter is so good, that if you have this instead you won´t miss the meat.

Whichever version you decide to make, don´t forget to always serve it with lots of salsa criolla on the side.

Thanks to Cesar Moncloa Guardia for the beautiful photo.

The name of this unique ingredient comes from the Quechua ch´uñu, which literally means freeze-dried potato. Chuño is made with regular potatoes which are dried in the heights of the Andes. This word, however, refers to two different things in Peru: 1- It is a potato starch used as a thickener in several sauces, cakes, and desserts. 2- It is a freeze-dried potato whith a long shelf life, and can be used in several stew and soup recipes.

In the market, you can find white and black chuño. The latter is made with bitter potatoes, which are left to freeze overnight in the open air. In the morning, they thaw under the sun, and then they are crushed to extract their liquid, and frozen all over again at night. This process is repeated many times until the potato is completely dehydrated. To make white chuño, on the other hand, potatoes are soaked in the icy cold water of rivers and streams for several days, and then sun-dried.

Chuño has an extremely long shelf life (it lasts for several years), and it has been part of the Andean diet for centuries. To consume it, you need to rehydrate the dried potatoes by soaking them in water. Then they are mainly used to make Andean soups and stews, or you can just cook them and eat them with corn and cheese.

Causa is a traditional dish that can be transformed with many different ingredients. Although the classic causa is always made with layers of mashed yellow potato, and filled with chicken or tuna salad, in recent years you can find causa in tiny and stylish presentations, topped with escabeche, fried fish, cebiche, octopus with black olive mayonnaise…even lomo saltado!

Adventurous chefs sometimes even add black squid ink to the potatoes,to make a dark and very exotic causa. Rocoto paste or beet puree can be used for a reddish one. And instead of potatoes, some cooks have started using Lima beans, yucca, taro, sweet potatoes, etc. As you can see, today this dish allows for hundreds of variations.

Today´s recipe is a flavorful combination of traditional causa, to which roasted bell pepper is added. The result is very tasty, especially if you are a roasted bell peppers lover, which I am. You may omit the aji amarillo paste if you want.

This causa is topped with a scallop salad, similar to a cebiche. Choose the smallest scallops you can find to make this appetizer, but if you only find the really large ones, slice them. Instead of scallops you may also use fish or cooked shrimp. To add texture to the dish, I like to top it with some crispy wonton dough.

Thanks to the awesome chef Roberto Cuadra for the lovely photo.

Every time I visit my brother in San Salvador, I share this appetizing dish with him at his Peruvian restaurant. Even though it looks complex, it’s very easy to recreate at home, an it’s a great recipe to have in hand during Lent.

To make it, you can use any kind of shellfish you like. I, for example, love shrimp and calamari. And what about clams and scallops? Razor blades and mussels? Shellfish cook in the blink of an eye, and this is part of the magic of this flavorful dish: most of the preparation is made in advance, and only the cooking is left for the end.

Octopus, however, is a different story. You will need an extra hour to clean it and boil it until tender. Only then, you may proceed with the recipe as instructed.

In Peru, like everywhere else, Easter is a big tradition. Many people spend the day focused on the religious celebration, but for many families with kids, it’s all about the chocolate egg hunt in the garden! When my children were small, we (I mean, the Easter bunny), would hide Easter eggs amongst the plants and flowers early in the morning, so the fun search could start as soon as they got out of bed. The house would be full of chocolate for several days after that (although we ate them at an alarmingly fast pace), and then waited till the next year to start the ritual all over again.

These easy cinnamon rolls are the perfect treat to make for Easter breakfast or brunch, with all those tiny chocolate eggs that abound at this time of the year. If your family has a traditional Easter menu that you want to respect, or simply don’t have time to make them this weekend, they are also a very creative way to put all those leftover tiny chocolate eggs to good use in the next few weeks.  Click here for the recipe.

Happy Easter!