Pollo Saltado: Classic Peruvian Cuisine

This evening I am daydreaming about Peru. Lukas and I were blessed to be able to take a two-week trip to Peru in December to visit his family (they are missionaries in Lima).

It was wonderful to get to see family, explore a new and colorful country, and experience the places Lukas has told me about. The trip included exploring Lima, as well as a day and a half trip to the rainforest in Pucallpa, Peru.

Peru is filled with rich history, interesting cultural experiences and, of course, delicious food. Oh, the food... so good!

Since I can't eat Peruvian food in Peru all the time, I'm sure glad I learned from Lukas' mom how to make a few favorite Peruvian dishes. And one of the best is pollo saltado or lomo saltado. More commonly in Peru you find the lomo saltado variation, which includes thinly sliced beef tenderloin or some other type of thinly sliced steak. However, it is sometimes served with chicken instead, thus creating the cousin dish of pollo saltado, featured below. Both are delectable, but at home we have made it with chicken because it is cheaper and we more commonly have it on hand.

Whichever meat you choose to use, this dish includes a bed of rice, with flavorful, tender marinaded meat cooked with vegetables and then topped with French fries. I know, French fries seem like an odd addition, but they add the perfect touch to this dish.

It's making my mouth water just thinking about it.



Pollo Saltado

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 2 tsp cumin 
• 10-12 cloves garlic (divided)
• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 cups uncooked rice
• Canola oil
• 1 whole onion plus 1/3 onion (divided)
• 2 bell peppers, julienned (multi-colored is our favorite)
• 1/2 14 oz. can of tomatoes (drained) or fresh tomatoes (the equivalent of about 7 oz.)
• 2 potatoes, sliced into French fries (or equivalent in store bought fries)
• Cilantro

This recipe makes enough for about 4-6 servings.

Marinade chicken overnight in soy sauce, vinegar, cumin and four cloves minced garlic. This picture only shows one chicken breast, but you will want to use two.

The next day to begin cooking this dish, saute dry rice with 1/3 cup finely chopped onion and 6-8 garlic cloves, minced. This can be done on the stove with a bit of oil. Once some (not all) of the grains of rice start to turn golden, take sauteed rice mixture and cook in rice maker or on stove with 2 2/3 cups water.

 

While rice is cooking, slice up one large onion and bell peppers. You can use all one color, but we usually use multi-colored bell peppers because they look so pretty. 

Chop up chicken in bite-sized pieces, and cook on stove with a good portion of the marinade, bell peppers and onion. The marinade gives the mixture an amazing flavor when it all cooks together.

Slice potatoes and cook French fries in oil on the stove (if you make them from scratch) or bake French fries in the oven if you use store bought fries. We've done it both ways, and I think it tastes equally good either way. It definitely saves time and effort to use the store bought fries and that's the route I've gone the last couple times we've made pollo saltado. If you go this route, use about enough French fries to cover a baking sheet. However, making them from scratch probably makes it slightly more authentic. :)

Once meat and vegetables are tender, add 1/2 can of drained tomatoes to the mixture and heat (or 1-2 fresh tomatoes if you have them on hand).

 Serve layered with rice, French fries, and meat and veggies mixture. Sprinkle cilantro on top.

And there you have it--a signature Peruvian dish that you can make at home. It's chock full of flavor. OK, now that I have written all about it, I may just need to make it again, just to let the flavors take me back to Peru again! :)

Buen provecho!

Arroz Chaufa: Peruvian Fried Rice

I have been immersed into the world of Peruvian cooking... thanks to my husband's family being missionaries in Peru. And, let me tell you, Peruvian food is tasty.

I used to think Lukas was biased when he talked about how great Peruvian food was. I figured that, having grown up there, he was just partial to it. This may be true, but I have since discovered firsthand how delicious Peruvian food really is. I have had the opportunity to try a variety of Peruvian dishes made by Lukas' family and in a Peruvian restaurant we found in Tulsa. We have tried making a few of these dishes at home, and I look forward to trying more in the future!

In fact, come to find out, Peruvian food has been rated in culinary circles as one of the top countries for unique cuisine. There are hundreds of dishes unique to Peru. The recipe below is for arroz chaufa, which is a Peruvian fried rice. This particular dish has significant Chinese influence, but with a bit of a Peruvian twist.

I still remember the first time I tried arroz chaufa. Lukas and his sister, Lynea, made the dish for me when Lukas and I were dating, and I remember them huddled in the tiny dorm kitchen attempting to make a culinary masterpiece. Cooking anything as a college student is always a challenge given the lack of cooking supplies and space, but they did a great job. Now Lukas and I can make this at home (thankfully, we have a little more space to work now in an apartment than we did in a dorm kitchen)!



Arroz Chaufa

• 1 large chicken breast
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/3 large onion
• 1 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 square inches ginger root
• 3 cubes chicken bouillon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• Soy sauce
• 3 green onions
• 1-2 small carrots
• 1/3 bell pepper
• 1/3 cup frozen peas
• 2 cups rice (2 cups precooked)
• 2 eggs
• Optional: extra onion and several limes for topping

Directions

Start cooking rice. For two cups of rice, we cooked with 2 3/4 cups water in our rice maker. If you don't have a rice maker, you can easily cook it on the stove.



Cut the chicken breast into bite size pieces. Mince garlic and ginger root. Cut up onion into small pieces. Cook chicken, garlic, ginger and onion on the stove in a large pan, along with cumin, chicken bouillon, salt and pepper. You can also add a small amount of soy sauce at this point.



Cut up green onions, carrots and bell pepper. Steam briefly with a little bit of water to soften the vegetables. We just put the vegetables in the microwave briefly.



Add onions, carrots, bell pepper and peas (if the peas are still a bit frozen they will defrost quickly on the stove) to the meat. Add cooked rice to the mixture. Stir everything together. Add a little more soy sauce to flavor. Ideally, you want some soy sauce flavor, but not too much (so that you can taste all the other distinct flavors).

Fry two eggs in a separate skillet and chop into small pieces. Mix egg pieces in with the rice, meat and veggies.



And it's all ready to eat. If desired, you can squeeze several limes and mix with chopped onions for a topping for arroz chaufa. This is the typical Peruvian way to eat it; my husband loves it, but I usually skip that part--I think it has plenty of flavor without it. If you choose to make the sauce, just keep it in a separate dish from the rice, that way you can add it as desired. A little bit of the sauce goes a long way.



Enjoy this taste of South American cuisine!