Tag: cordanos

M’s Adventures Lima Edition Nueva Andina Cuisine Tour – 3 Days

M's Adventures
Bites to whet your appetite at Statera

Five years ago, I visited Lima for a weekend. My friend and her family, are my experts on Peruvian food and culture. She turned the weekend into a Peruvian food tour. Now that I have lived in Lima for a few years, here are my recommendations for a three-day food tour of Lima. Of course, if you plan your travel here around reservations at Central or Maido, then do that or go to one of the other places on my list of 100 places to try. This list is focused on showing your visitors some of the variety and best of “nueva andina” cuisine.

Must Do

El Cacaotal, Jr. Colina 128A, Barranco: Closed on Sundays. Grab a coffee or hot chocolate at this premiere chocolate “library” of Peruvian fine chocolates.

Dinner (open from 7:30 p.m. except for Cosme that is open from 6 p.m. Reservations are better but not requisite. Merito does not take reservations, show up at 7:20 p.m. and stand in line)
Statera, Av. Mariscal La Mar 463: The former R&D chef at Central, who also worked at Noma, opened his own place. All the inventiveness and intellectual complexity of Central but without the prices and hype.
Cosme, Tudela Y Varela 160-162, San Isidro (the other side of the street is Miraflores): Cozy and delicious.
Jeronimo, Av. Mariscal La Mar 1209: Much of the food is not specific to Peru but it’s still delicious!
Merito, Jr. 28 De Julio 206, Barranco: Venezuelan chefs who worked at Central = haute cuisine with a Venezuelan influence.
Half a fish at La Picanteria.
Lunch (these cevicherias, like all traditional ceviche places, are only open for lunch and sometimes breakfast)
La Preferida, Calle Julian Arias Aragüez 698, Miraflores: This original location is very local to this upper-middle class neighborhood. No tourists.
La Picanteria, Calle Santa Rosa 388, Surquillo: Internet-famous. Lots of food tours go here. Pick the fish and have it cooked two ways. Family style eating. Also serves non-fish.
Al Toke Pez, Av. Angamos 886, Surquillo: the chef is famous for being a Ph.D. who has chosen to honor his father’s culinary tradition (his father opened Matsuei) by opening a hole-in-the-wall.
Breakfast
El Pan de la Chola, Av. La Mar 918, Miraflores: Still my number one restaurant. This is consistently good food, good service, and world class
Cordanos, Jirón Ancash 202, Cercado de Lima: If you are touristing downtown, this former political moshpit near the main square, still serves atmosphere with good food.
La Isolina, Av. San Martin 101, Barranco: This place is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The owner is the son of Isolina, who opened La Red. La Isolina serves her recipes. The son has now opened Las Reyes in a tribute to his mom and her sisters (as in “the King girls”), all good cooks.
Las Vecinas, Jirón Domeyer 219, Barranco: Just down the street from La Isolina. Gluten-free, vegetarian, healthy, and all those other feel good options. Cute interior too.
Markets
Here is my list of eco-bio-farmers’ markets. If you want to buy the plates that you ate off of at the fancy places, shop at Jallpa Nina or Dedalo.
Ham and cheese with avocado added, at El Pan de la Chola.

Recipe for How to Make Chicken Causa

M's Adventures

XU3avk8OGYzE2BvymEO0cqX7JC3EApteoULsKRp-swftCuO1LQVh8PznHyIB_0tFW5GSJK_G4u-a23MFnOx51aFsQpS9iT7HyKDke133bCBpOKF5LDeKv_PRHA4P2hIJ-tD_Yll44odUhZ2nqvebbp_uCAgvR6bO4954dd0_jELqrelMsvFin--BBH30ObT7Iz0GrWBVTT5xjbHa7kcH-BI_TYMqo0bA classic potato dish in Lima is “causa” which translates as the “cause” or fight.  But, it can also mean “buddy.”  I took some photos while a buddy of mine and her mom made “artisanal” causa… as in homemade (which is one of the points that mega-phone of Peruvian cuisine, Gaston Acurio champions, although you can follow his recipe here). It took them more than three hours.  Here is the recipe (sort of) as the grandma making the dish doesn’t use measurements (hence the artsy part of this) and it took so long that I went off to take a nap.

uz3g1XgDc1BZWt3I3c41Q1FNkD3_rx9Gso_XNPxeQ1GU0UkV50Wk9zXxcVxMGwLstDEqeCHBFZ_xAzXFRqrppeLa6M20ApAihFIsesPp90oTe5O0YDbFjMzYv2l9ZNZTLjzcYBvI6rH2TVDx7XWtv6bxaSKbbX8FFu_W_E2auGnaVzoTM1HPfJ5RQxM9A_Ayz5r2hcNDTWDJPJtDV-Y8MaK4s2CMXqq4 large chicken breasts

24 large Peruvian Yellow potatoes

a cup of celery

a large carrot

2 white onions

yellow Peruvian chili paste

salt & pepper

2 avocado

4 tomatoes

red pepper

parsley

pitted black olives_r28rWipYbntM2Wedzah4-nuDSIOSmPE7bkk-Z5cGSeYO5FsWPvCCLf1CP3-40ktHh6mWUYJ3ylxrL5raKV7J2YQuFH9loyCGA7w6aAr7EpX24K5p_EcXgqThaT5Inr2vZoLmW_5unFCH4T0_WCIw8oNfpMIJiDmhsa135T2VQiSrMtsLua6goo60Yu8bxKMNn0sDqXqi1DPJQ-UCWSI-zYq9TM5_gI

  1. Cook the chicken in water with chopped onion, celery, and carrot, and a pinch of salt (large pieces are fine). Boil until chicken breasts are cooked (40 minutes). Pull out chicken breasts and let cool.
  2. Boil yellow potatoes. When boiled, drain and peel as soon as you can as the peel is easier to remove when the potato is hot.
  3. Remove the strings off the celery and chop very fine.
  4. Chop half a white onion very fine.
  5. Chop/pull the cooked chicken breast.
  6. Mix the chicken meat with mayonnaise, salt, pepper, onions, and celery.
  7. Crush by hand the cooked and peeled potatoes. Crush until they are smooth and have a creamy texture. Add olive oil, salt, pepper, lime juice, and chili paste. Keep tasting it until it tastes right.
  8. In a large lasagna pan (or use a glass, whatever), build your causa. Bottom layer is potato, then the chicken salad, then avocado, then tomato, and then another layer of potato. Use a fork to make a design on the top and decorate with parsley, red pepper slivers, and black olives. Eat straight away or keep in fridge until it “settles” and gets even tastier.

EKsqBPiV_FTcNBYX9aRQnk02n7LKbEFZIvmo87qWEjO5Es4qDmYY4RAREOhPDEjuOI7qMdER6VbrcK8in88q2x27oa4zcGMfgZz_78eQ21Pe-5yAP9y9soVaPg0uYz1iVL54n9GQZSJrRu4DnH3PXS5ighTHF9LvCHIQ6ntXAhl3KAWvmzNS-bSAiIk2H6ZRgnFcAS1w21sCu4bswRE_MsWZjlIHGaTThere are other types of causa with crab, shrimp, egg, but chicken salad is typical in Lima. The Lima thing to do is to eat this as an appetizer and then follow with “aji de gallina” which is rice with stewed chicken, another classic dish from Peru.