Lomo Saltado/ Peruvian Stir Fry

This is one of my favorite Peruvian dishes because it tastes great, and is a cinch to make. In my experience, Peruvian food can be quite labor intensive, but this dish is very simple and quick to make. The sweetness of balsamic vinegar and saltiness of soy sauce give the meat a unique flavor. As with 99% of Peruvian dishes, this is served with a side of white rice. In the words of my husband, this dish is 'que rico'!


Lomo Saltado
Adapted from Yanuq.com


1 lb flank steak
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c balsamic vinegar
Juice from 2 small limes
1 t garlic powder
3 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1 red onion, thinly sliced
4 medium red potatoes
3 T olive oil
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste


Cut beef into strips 1 inch in length and 1/4 inch in width. Combine soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, lime juice, garlic powder, and pepper in a medium bowl add beef. Allow the beef to marinate for at least 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.


After  beef has  been marinading for approximately 30 minutes, saute tomatoes and onion over medium high heat until tomatoes begin break down and onions are translucent. Add beef mixture, including marinade. Turn the head down to medium low and let the mixture cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reduces and thickens. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes. 


Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit cut the potatoes into eighths and toss in olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread the potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake in the oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. 


Combine the cooked potatoes and beef mixture and serve immediately with rice. 

Humitas

One advantage to having a husband who grew up in Peru, besides the accent of course, is getting to explore their cuisine! Peruvian food is known all over the world for the variety of ingredients and the adaptability of their recipes to other cultures. They're home to more than 200 different kinds of potatoes, have integrated dozens of different cultures into their cuisine (Asian, African, and Italian, to name a few), and has some of the best civeche in Latin America.

One delicacy in particular caught my eye when I was at a dinner with fellow Peruvian-Americans and their families, the humita. Essentially, an humita is a sweet corn tamale. I had never imagined a tamale being anything other than savory, fatty, and filled with shredded pork or beef (that's my Texan roots shining through) until I tried this delicious dish. I knew I wanted to attempt to recreate it and see how it fared to my Peruvian food snob of a husband.

In researching the recipe for humitas (which wasn't so easy considering most of the recipes are in Spanish) I realized that all of the variations have the same basic ingredients to go off of: sugar, corn, and evaporated milk. I finally decided to go with Yanuq.com's recipe for Humitas Dulces (Sweet Tamales, translated).

Before you shutter at the idea of how labor intensive tamales are rumored to be, I must say that I was very, pleasantly, surprised at how EASY they were. Sure, the process from start to finish took a while, but as far as the level of difficulty, it's not that bad. I hope you enjoy these humitas as much as my husband and I did!

Humitas
Adapted from Yanuq.com

Ingredients
8 ears of corn
1 12oz can of evaporated milk (1 1/2 cups)
5 oz of raisins
1 cup of sugar
4 T of margarine (I used butter)
3-4 cinnamon sticks
Pinch of salt
Husks from ears of corn
Corn cobs

Carefully peel back the husks from the corn and set aside. Be sure to save the corn cobs also. Using a chefs knife, cut the corn off of each ear of corn and blend with the evaporated milk.

Melt the butter in a large pot and add corn mixture, raisins, sugar, cinnamon sticks, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat until the mixture is thick and glossy, about 20-25 minutes. Be sure to stir the mixture constantly so it doesn't stick. Once the mixture is thick and glossy remove the pot from the heat and allow it to cool completely.

While the corn mixture is cooling, add the husks from the corn  to a large pot and boil for about 10 minutes. This keeps the husks moist so when they're being steamed they won't burn. Drain the water and allow the husks to cool until you can handle them with bare hands.

Spoon a tablespoon or two onto each husk and fold the husk around the mixture. If corn is coming out of the sides when you're folding the husk, remove some of the mixture and try refolding. Tie the husks with kitchen string or a shred of the corn husk.

Place the corn cops at the bottom of a large pot and fill the pot with enough water to almost cover the corn cobs. Then delicately stack the humitas on top of the corn cobs. Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and bring the water to a boil over medium heat. Steam the humitas for roughly 45 minutes or until the mixture no longer sticks to the corn husk when unwrapped. Add more water to the bottom of the pot if you need to steam the humitas longer.

Peruvian Brownies

Brownies is a food that will melt away all your worries with a single bite. I found the recipe for these delectable little treats on the Peruvian cooking website Yanuq.com. My husband described these as 'the best brownies ever', I think he may be a little partical considering he is Peruvian and all. However, I am not Peruvian so I can tell you that these, unbiasedly, are the most delicous brownies I've ever tasted in my life! I immediately packed up and froze half the batch otherwide my husband and I would devour them all with in a couple of days! Hello, my name is Nicole and I am a sweets-a-holic. Is there a 12 step program for a problem like this?

This recipe is very simple to make and requires very basic ingredients. I believe you'll thoroughly enjoy these.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Cocoa Powder
• 9 oz Butter
• 3 cups Sugar
• 2 cups Flour
• 6 Eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• Powdered Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter in a medium saucepan or double broiler on medium low heat. Remove from heat once completely melted.
3. Mix in cocoa powder with melted butter until smooth.
4. Once cocoa is completely incorporated, mix in sugar.
5. Transfer the sugar mixture to a large bowl and mix in eggs.
6. Sift flour and salt into sugar mixture and combine completely.
7. Place batter in a rectandular baking dish (I used an 11 in x 7 in pan) that's been buttered and floured.
8. Bake brownies for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.

I like my brownies very soft and gooey but if you prefer a firmer brownie, bake them for 10 to 15 minutes more, checking on them every 5 minutes or so.

You can jazz up your brownies any way you'd like. A few ideas that immediately come to mind are:

• Vanilla extract
• Chocolate chips
• Nuts
• Peanut butter
• 1 tsp of instant coffee mix

Feel free to make this recipe your own! These are officially my favorite brownie recipe ever!

This recipe yeilded me 24 1 inch square brownies that were quite thick. You could use a larger baking pan and get more, thinner brownies if you'd like. Just be sure to keep an eye on them so they don't overbake.