It's good Peru
Ask any Filipino if he’s heard of Peruvian food and most likely you will get a blank stare. Peruvians are of course the people from Peru, and though we are “brothers,” both being colonized by the Spaniards, there is so little we know about them, their culture and cuisine. And one thing is certain — colonizers leave a trace of their food traditions on the local palate. So when we heard of a Peruvian food festival at Dusit Hotel, it was not easy to convince my darleng Mary Ann to leave our comfort zone in Angeles City.
“What is their food like?” she asked me.
“Honestly, I don’t know. Unless one has been to Peru it is very unlikely one has tried Peruvian food,” I said. “Firstly, I do not know of any Peruvian restaurant in the country, and secondly, in all my travels abroad, I have not been to a country that I’ve come across a Peruvian restaurant.” Curiosity on why is this so led me to research on Peruvians as a people and their cuisine. At the same time, we adjusted our schedule because it would be a rare chance to try Peruvian food.
Located in western South America, Peru is our co-member in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). It shares the same borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile and a long coastline on the Pacific Ocean. Though it gained its independence from Spain in 1821, Spanish is its official language to this day. They are approximately 29 million people in an area of 1.285 million square kilometers, compared to our 300,000 square kilometers with approximately 92 million Filipinos. Ergo, our land is just a third the size of theirs, but our population is three times more. Like us, they inherited the Catholic religion from the Spaniards, with 75 percent of their population being Catholics. But unlike us, they obviously do not have an overpopulation concern and thus do not have to leave their country while there are an estimated 10 million-plus Filipinos living abroad. In the Philippines, I learned that there are only 60 Peruvians residing here and they are mostly missionaries. This explains why we do not encounter Peruvians here, much less any Peruvian restaurants.
More than their size and population, I was interested in knowing the similarities between our cuisines, considering our historical past and that, like the Filipinos, Peruvians are very fond of Chinese food. Chinese restaurants abound in the capital city Lima, numbering in the hundreds, and predictably, they have a strong Peruvian influence. Called Chifas by the locals (from the Mandarin chi fan, meaning “eat food”), they are mostly down-to-earth neighborhood eateries, offering a fare rich in seafood and chicken, that has come down to be known as Peruvian Chinese, much in the same way we have our own local Filipino Chinese chow. So, having both Spanish and Chinese influences in our cuisines, how much different can their cuisine be from ours?
Though we were colonized by Spain for more than 300 years, they actually governed us by way of Mexico through the Mexican vice-regal during the 250 years of the galleon trade from 1565 with the discovery of the Pacific Ocean passage by Andrés de Urdaneta, and continued until 1815 when the Mexican War of Independence put a permanent stop to the galleon trade route. Most of the so-called Kastilas or Spaniards in the Philippines were actually of Mexican descent, from the government officials, friars, soldiers and sailors. Thus, the Hispanic culture of the Philippines is somewhat closer to Mexican culture. And food from the Americas was among the important culture-bearing objects that has stayed with us to this day
Just like us, the Peruvians eat a lot of grains like rice, corn (maize), potatoes and yams (root crops like camote and cassava) in their cooking. They claim to have over 200 potato kinds from creamy white to purple (ube?) to blue color. And again like us, being a fishing nation, seafood is abundant in their cuisine. While I am curious to know what the Peruvians do with fish and yam that is Spanish inspired, it was the Spaniards that left to us mostly meat dishes as in cochinillo, caldereta, callos, etc. and desserts. But unlike us and that of Spaniards, most Peruvian dishes are cooked with aji or the Peruvian hot peppers, which are mainly the yellow, red and roccoto chilies (third hottest in the world).
At the eight-course dinner we sampled at the Dusit Hotel, there was only one out of the 15 in the media group who had tried Peruvian food before and she had it in LA. She remembers the ceviche most of all. And coincidentally that night, the first dish served was Cebiche Mixto, a fish and seafood ceviche (often spelled “cebiche” in Peru) of shrimp, snail (without the shell) squid rings, mussels in lime juice with red onions, coriander, and served in a typically Peruvian way with corn and orange yam, which by the way, is also called camote in Peru (after all this is indigenous to all of Central and South America and goes by this name). It was a very nice, flavorful medley of fresh seafood. Ceviche is considered Peru’s national dish, or at least the most popular in most coastal cuisines in Latin American countries, Mexico included. It is like our kinilaw or the Spanish boquerones en vinagre (fresh anchovy fillets marinated in vinegar, raw garlic and olive oil). But unlike ceviche, our kinilaw has no coriander, corn and camote and we use vinegar instead of limejuice to “cook” the raw fish. The lime and coriander on their ceviche is more reminiscent of what Thai food would be like without the patis or fish sauce.
Then we had a locally sourced octopus, simply boiled and served with a subtly spiced green olive sauce (Spanish tapenade or paté from mashed olives). Followed by Tiradito, which is a white fish (lapu-lapu) carpaccio in yellow chili sauce. These were three thin slices of fish, served with a hint of chili. A yum dish of mashed potato causa with contrasting flavors of aji, red chili mayonnaise and cauliflower mayonnaise blended beautifully well on the palate.
The next dish on the menu elicited a lot of conversation from the guests. It was called Quinoa Crusted Prawn with Black Bean and Passion Fruit Sauce. First we all wondered what quinoa is. It turned out to be like a grain but is a seed of a leafy plant that grows in the Andes, same family as spinach, beets and Swiss chard. Crusted on the prawn, it gave it a nice crunchy texture. Mary Ann was looking for the black bean taste. That is because in our cuisine when we say black beans we refer to the fermented salted kind or tausi. The black beans used on this dish are fresh and mashed and mixed with fruit juices.
The sixth course which was the first main dish was aji de gallina, a Spanish dish of creamy chicken in yellow chili sauce. At first glance it looked like a pasta dish with white sauce because the creamy sauce clung to the meat and yam that it was honestly hard to detect the chicken slivers. Then the main dish, carapulcra con chancho, Peru’s most popular or common dish, which is a pork stew with sun-dried potatoes cooked with cinnamon, chocolate and peanuts. Interestingly enough, for this dish to be cooked traditionally, the chef had to bring the freeze-dried potatoes as he cannot use any other potatoes especially the fresh ones. The chef showed us what looked like pebble-size sugar crystals that were as hard as rock. And for dessert we had purple corn porridge infused with fruit juices. This is very much unlike our ginataan mais, not only in color but also in texture and taste.
Guest Peruvian chef Martin Velasco Trojan, whose extensive training and experience in Lima, New York, and Denver, Colorado and presently as chef instructor at Dusit Thani College in Bangkok, is the man responsible for introducing us to Peruvian cuisine. He brought with him important ingredients like quinoa, purple potatoes and assorted ajis (hot peppers). But where are the hot dishes you might ask, as my wife did? Apparently, in Peruvian cooking, the chilies are soaked and used for their subtle flavors, which are often lost to the “heat” caused by the white membrane and seeds, which are discarded. One can put chili sauce on the side as desired. It is literally an eye (and taste bud) opener to learn that chilies indeed have subtle flavors and such can be extracted without adding chili heat to the dish.
To have a taste of what we had and even more other Peruvian dishes, go to Dusit Thani’s Manila Basix All Day Dining restaurant from January 14 to 28. For only P1,200 for lunch and P1,450 for dinner, one can have a buffet of six of 10 Peruvian appetizers on rotation, one soup of three kinds, six of 11 main courses, and five desserts, plus the daily international offerings with unlimited bar on assorted juices, red and white wine, local beers and sodas. Now that’s a real bargain. During another occasion before the media dinner, we had a chance to try the excellent roast prime rib which is on their daily buffet and believe you me, that alone with the salads, oysters and wines is more than worth it. Add to that the Peruvian dishes and the education that goes with it. By the way, Lima, Peru’s capital, was declared the Gastronomic Capital of the Americas at the Fourth International Summit of Gastronomy Madrid Fusion 2006. Now this is your rare chance to have a taste of that. Go, go, go!
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Call 867-3333 for inquiries and reservations.
