Typical food of Peru includes well known dishes like ceviche and lomo saltado. Explore the rich and diverse flavors that make Peruvian cuisine a culinary delight.
Also, Peru has magnificent areas such as its majestic Amazon Rainforest, full of charm, animals never seen before and fantastic luxury cruises.
However, there is nothing in the world that attracts more than food. Peru is a specialist in its rich and varied food that dates back to the ancestors and that Peruvian chefs have known how to optimize over time; Thus, the great awards that the restaurants have received, which make gourmet food consumed presenting dishes from all regions of the country.
As Serious Eats mention: Culinarily speaking, Peru is the Hope Diamond of Latin America, home to dishes and flavors you won’t find anywhere else. While this is hardly a secret—there are more Peruvian restaurants outside Peru than ever before—it’s one we don’t give enough credit to. Rather than remain culturally segregated, these foreign additions have blended seamlessly with ancient Peruvian cuisine into something utterly unique.
Let’s get to know the best-known dishes in this rich land
Ceviche
Ceviche is Peru’s national dish, and an immediate infatuation for nearly all who try it. Though other countries may claim their own variations with shrimp, octopus, scallops, tomatoes, and even tostada chips, Peru started this cold-“cooked” fish craze with only five simple ingredients: sea bass (corvina) marinated for just minutes in lime juice, onion, salt and, of course, hot chiles (aji). The tenderness of super-fresh fish is heightened by crisp onion, and sides of starchy boiled corn (choclo) and creamy sweet potato (camote) to balance out the texture of the dish. Dry-roasted corn kernels (cancha) sprinkled around add a pleasing crunch.
Lomo Saltado
Almost as popular as ceviche, this chifa dish represents a fusion of Chinese stir-frying and classic Peruvian ingredients. Juicy strips of soy-marinated beef (or alpaca), onions, tomatoes, aji chiles, and other spices are stir-fried until the beef is just cooked and the tomatoes and onions start to form a robust, meaty gravy.
It’s then served with two starches, a happy mix of East and West: a mound of rice and French fries (often tossed with the meat). The crowd-pleasing dish is found nearly everywhere across Peru, and is equally popular in Peruvian restaurants abroad.
Aji de Gallina (Creamy Chicken)
Shredded chicken bathes in a thick sauce made with cream, ground walnuts, cheese, and aji amarillo. The sauce is mild but piquant, the aji’s fruity, moderately hot bite softened by the nutty, creamy sauce to a comfortable warmth. The dish reflects Peru’s love of sauces thickened with chiles, cheese, cream, or even bread, and often cooked with meats and vegetables. Here the sauce is mixed with the poultry and served over rice with boiled potatoes and black olives, making for a rich, bright yellow chowder that glistens on the plates of restaurants and households throughout Peru
Papas a la Huancaina (Potatoes in Spicy Cheese Sauce)
In another instance of “meat or starch covered in creamy sauce,” sliced yellow potatoes are drenched in a purée of queso fresco, aji amarillo, garlic, evaporated milk, lime juice and—you guessed it—saltine crackers. A yellow sauce over yellow potatoes topped with yellow-yolked hard-boiled eggs. But don’t be deceived; this homely sauce packs a complex, slow-building burn, at once brightened by the queso fresco, lime, and salty cracker, and tamed by the earthy potato and cooling egg. Usually served as a side dish to a meal, it’s also a common appetizer, with tiny round purple potatoes boiled whole, enveloped by sauce and garnished with olives, eggs, and, yes, more crackers. Originating in the mountainous city of Huancayo, it’s now an almost every day staple throughout Peru
Causa (Potato Casserole)
This ubiquitous Quechan dish has taken on countless European-style variations, often served as a cake roll, terrine, casserole, or in colorful individual servings. Whatever the presentation, it starts with meaty mashed yellow Peruvian potatoes blended with lime, oil and spicy aji amarillo sauce.
Shredded tuna, salmon, or chicken are mixed with mayo, followed by layers of avocado, hard boiled eggs, and olives. That surface is topped again with more potato mix, and so on, making as many lasagna-like layers as one dares. This bright, barely-spicy dish is served cold as a salad course or side dish.
Cuy (Guinea Pig)
One of the Andean region’s most popular sources of meat (the other being alpaca), this guinea-pig-as-food strikes fear in the hearts of Westerners who think of it more as a pet than a meal. But consider tender, smoky dark meat (almost like poultry!) beneath a glistening golden veneer of shatteringly crisp skin, and you can begin to grasp the appeal. Or think of it as a single-serving suckling pig. The traditional recipe calls for stuffing the whole animal with local herbs, then roasting it over an open wood fire and serving it with potatoes. When served this way it tastes best with a dip of aji sauce and eaten by hand like fried chicken
Rocoto Relleno (Stuffed Spicy Peppers)
Red aji rocoto chiles are stuffed with a cooked mix of ground beef, onions, garlic, olives, raisins, herbs, and spices, then topped with queso fresco and baked in an egg-and-milk sauce.
Fair warning: despite its scarlet good looks, this dish is not the stuffed bell pepper you’re used to—the rocoto is a little larger than a plum with a bright, fruity, tropical berry essence and almost twice the heat of an aji amarillo (or about ten times hotter than an average jalapeño). So that first bite will wake you up. But the chile’s initial burn is quickly tempered by the sweet and savory filling inside, and the melted queso fresco and eggy cream sauce in which it all cooks.
Anticuchos de Corazón (Grilled Heart)
Don’t let “heart” put you off. The heart is a muscle, after all, leaner than filet mignon, bolder in flavor than a ribeye, and delicious when licked by open flames. Typically cut into one-to-two-inch cubes, the crimson heart (alpaca or beef) is marinated in vinegar, cumin, ají, and garlic and grilled over charcoal to a medium rare with slightly singed edges.
Arroz con Pato (Rice with Duck)
This seemingly simple Spanish Criollo recipe is a signature dish in Peru. Rice is cooked in cilantro paste, herbs, and dark beer, giving a deep, earthy flavor to the vegetable grain. A roasted thigh and leg or—if lucky—crisp-seared duck confit is added on top of a mound of the green rice
Pollo a la Brasa (Roasted Chicken)
A whole chicken is marinated in a powerful combination of garlic, herbs, and spices before roasting on a spit, giving the bronzed, crispy skin an addictively exotic and earthy taste.
Perhaps even more beloved than the chicken itself is the green huacatay (Peruvian black mint) sauce served next to it: every chicken comes with it, though the recipe often varies and is a closely-guarded secret. For some it’s a creamy melange of the mint with cilantro, garlic and chile in a mayo base that Peruvians (and everyone else) goes crazy for.
You can be completely sure that there are many more dishes that are just as delicious and you can try them during your visit. Let yourself be carried away by our hands