KimmyKokonut

Hard at work.

I was honored to spend a month in the Sacred Valley of Peru (near Machu Picchu), where I volunteered for a group yoga retreat center, teaching the staff vegan cooking and vegetarian classics (all in Spanish!). The kitchen was lacto-ovo vegetarian and the owner wanted them to have some vegan recipes under their belts, so I was invited to teach them the ins and outs of vegan foods.

I really enjoyed teaching and the staff was eager and happy to learn when in the kitchen. I spent a lot of time reading cookbooks and pulling ideas and inspirations and making it work for the available local items. I designed a few menus and taught basics like bread baking, muffins, cookies, pie crusts, tofu making and a number of entrees, salads and desserts. I am most proud of the seed bread I created for them with local whole wheat flour, quinoa, amaranth, flax seed, sesame seed and pumpkin seeds. It was delicious and nutritious. It is very difficult to find whole wheat bread in Peru; the locals bread of choice is basically an eggy white roll, so this was something new for the staff and something the guests loved. (PS Missoula yoga group, I still owe you the recipe, send me an email).

Getting tomatoes and garlic ready for roasting.

The star dish that the staff and the guests loved was my lasagna (my grandma will be proud). We made a hand-rolled vegan pasta, homemade roasted garlic tomato sauce, sauteed spinach and garlic and local mozzarella and house-made ricotta. It came out beautiful and tasty. The vegan version will obviously be sans dairy with the homemade tofu. I taught how to make quinoa milk (recipe below), which was really easy and substituted well for cow’s milk in baking. Luckily, we had easy access to flax seeds, so that was our major egg replacer in baking. The produce was local, beautiful and fresh. Everyone ate well and learned a lot. I even wrote out all the recipes in Spanish so they have a mini cookbook to reference.

Culturally, Peruvians are more laid back than Westerners. It was new to me to take my time in the kitchen, coming out of a culinary education that encourages efficiency and speed in the kitchen. I think we both learned a lot from each other and I focused on teaching the hows along with the whys of vegan cuisine. Plus we had a lot of fun in the kitchen. Enough of this, on to the recipe and pictures!

Quinoa Milk Yields: ~1 quart/liter
This milk will last in the fridge for about a week. For a beverage, you can cook the quinoa with cinnamon to give it a new dimension.
Ingredients
1/2 cup quinoa
4 cups water
pinch sea salt
to taste sweetener of choice (unrefined sugar, agave, honey)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Method
1. Place quinoa in a glass bowl and cover with water. Refrigerate and soak overnight.
2. Strain quinoa well and rinse under running water.
3. Place quinoa in a sauce pot with 2 cups of water and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Place entire contents into a blender and blend on high speed for at least 1 minute.
5. Add enough water for your desired consistency and sweetener to taste. Add vanilla if desired.

Scratch Lasagna.

Apple Pie Muffins (VWAV modified)

Sauco Corn Muffins (like Elderberries)

Rosemary Zucchini Quiche

Chocolate Brazil Nut Cookies and Oatmeal Raisin

Comforting Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Mango Pear Pie (filling: V’con modified)

A slice of heaven (Crust Recipe here)

Carrot Cake (VWAV)

A friend asked us in our last days in Peru what we were looking forward to, food-wise. Matt’s answer was cheddar cheese. I couldn’t think of anything off the top of my head and it drove my crazy. I guess I just spent too much time in markets and cooking and focusing on what they DID have, that I couldn’t come up with any foods that I needed to have right away when we returned.

Chocolate Factory in Tarapoto.

I definitely missed the access to international ingredients and tempeh and a variety of fresh green vegetables, but I could wait for those things and enjoy them when it came. It didn’t hit me until we were already in the US, in a grocery store. Chocolate! Not just any chocolate, mind you. Dark, bitter chocolate. Peru has plenty of chocolate and candy bars (mostly owned by Nestle) but it’s all sugary milk chocolate. Strange, though, that a lot of cacao is grown in the Amazon, yet they consume it in processed crappy candy bars or artisanal chocolate drinks (that are so full of natural oils/fats that my stomach gets very angry with me). Only in Tarapoto did I find dark chocolate (La Orquidea) that was delicious but hard to find (only saw it in Tarapoto and Moyobamba, jungle towns. I’m sure it’s in Lima). We had an adventure finding the factory on the outskirts of town, only to almost get eaten by the guard dog and have them tell us they were closing in 10 minutes and we couldn’t get a tour (but I did get some bars for $1 each) The rest of chocolate found in Peru was for sugar fixes, not the pure pleasure of chocolate consumption that I am used to.

I spent most of my life scoffing at the chocolate addicts, opting for other snacks, if I sought snacks at all. I’m not sure when it happened but a few years ago I tried Dagoba for the first time and fell in love and was hooked. I have missed really yummy chocolate and I’m glad to have it back. Well, there’s your answer Marcy!

After 3 months of eating in Peru (and shocked at how much white rice is consumed, I think more so than the revered potatoes) and finally having a somewhat enjoyable kitchen to cook in, I decided it was time to play around and make my biggest meal craving, Swimming Rama.

My prior shared kitchen experiences included a nosy old lady telling me I was boiling beans incorrectly and a middle aged Evangelical woman who was not as nosy but wanted to talk religion to me. In Leymebamba, where my husband and I were volunteering as English teachers to local guides and children, we had access to a big kitchen (and restaurant) under construction.

So, my free time in that month included figuring out how to make foods from scratch. Peanut butter was not available, nor coconut milk or tofu, main ingredients in the Swimming Rama. It took me about a week to find all the ingredients and get things started. Swimming rama consists of rice, spinach, bean sprouts, tofu and a sauce based of peanut butter, coconut milk and chilies. I have had the best SR of my life in Seattle and am now scared to order it from any other Thai restaurant. But being isolated in a small town in the mountains, one tends to forget what things taste like if you are not around them. I could not fail. Luckily, I love making foods from scratch and I had the time and patience.

Straining the milk. I reused the pulp (toasted in granola).

Step One: make coconut milk. This involved taking a local bus one hour to Yerba Buena for their big Sunday market, where I got a coconut for 15 cents each. They are a big crossroads for jungle food to reach the mountains (mangoes, anyone?) Back home, I stabbed it with the Philips screwdriver I found, drained it of the water and had my husband smash it with the cleaver. Pry coconut meat off and blend with coconut water and enough hot water so your meat:water ratio is 1:1. Strain, refrigerate and wait (hopefully before it goes bad in a few days).

Step Two: make peanut butter. Peanuts were hard to find in our town as well. Only two women sell them and we bought them out. Dry roast peanuts, blend with salt until peanut butter is achieved.  See recipe here.

Step Three: make tofu. This process deserves it’s own post. Soybeans are available all over Peru. I have yet to see ANY local use them (except for occasional small towns that produce soy milk to sell to passing buses—buy it! It’s delicious).

Step Four: Give up on the search for mung beans or sprouting anything at all, for that matter. Pesticide use is prevalent in all of South America, thanks to the US banning certain nasty chemicals in the US (which means they still make it, but sell it to South America. yuck!) I am not interested in consuming pesticide-ridden sprouts.

My block of tofu! Ignore the mess.

Step Five: Find spinach. The lack of green vegetables makes me very sad indeed. Local markets have an abundance of starches, tubers, roots and tomatoes but the color green is rare. I asked around and was sent to an old lady’s house down the street. She wasn’t home, but her husband let me into her garden and pick what I wanted (no charge). She didn’t have spinach, but there was chard and I grabbed some of that just in case…After about an hour of locals sending me every which way, I was told that some man who works with the TV antennas has a garden and might have spinach. It took me about another hour to find his house, walking around town and asking everyone. I didn’t really understand what they were talking about, antennas and such. I thought he was a local repair man or something. Nope. Finally, I got good directions and climbed the hill to the cemetery and took a steep dirt path along the cemetery’s outer wall and reached a house of rude children and angry dogs. The next house up, located right next to the giant TV antennae for the town, was Max’s. His helpful family trudged with me through his farm at dusk to pick every last leaf of spinach on their farm. I had enough for my dinner for 4 and a happiness to see a local growing broccoli, chard, figs, apples, celery and more.

But I digress. Spinach with the earth still clinging to them went into my pockets and I made it back home in time to finish my dinner. Steam rice, fry tofu, make peanut sauce (using local aji chilies!) and plate. Eat and bask in the pleasure that it is to create a meal completely from local sources, zero packaging, zero middlemen, and knowing that you can make Swimming Rama wherever you are. Life is good.

PS Sorry the pictures are lame, the lighting was not the best.

Recipe for Swimming Rama (Serves 4)
Ingredients
Canola oil (or other, for frying)
1 Tbl aji, minced (the orange one or 1 tsp rocoto/jalapeno)
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/3 cup natural peanut butter (or use normal but don’t add sugar/salt)
1 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp lime juice
1 Tbl sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 lb. firm tofu, drained and cubed
2 lbs. fresh spinach, washed and torn if big
Rice of your choice, cooked as you wish
Peanuts, toasted and chopped

Method
1. Cook rice and drain tofu.
2. Heat a little oil (1/2 tsp) in a saute pan over medium heat. Saute aji, ginger and garlic about 30 seconds.
2. Add remaining ingredients (up to coconut milk) and simmer 1 minute.
3. Slowly add coconut milk, whisking to incorporate and season to taste (salt, lime, aji).
4. Remove from heat and hold until ready.
5. Heat oil in a saute pan (for shallow fry) or a wok or deeper pan (for deep fry). When the oil is hot (test with a drop of water, if it sizzles, it’s ready), add tofu and fry until golden brown and crispy. Be careful not to get splattered with oil. Drain on paper towels.
6. To serve, scoop rice, add spinach and tofu and cover with the sauce. Garnish with peanuts and enjoy! I also like it with mung bean sprouts but those weren’t available in Peru.

Prompted by a reader’s question, I thought it would be nice to post a list of veggie places in Lima in an organized manner. We were in Lima for only a few days, mostly following the Lonely Planet guide or happycow.net, but we found a few that aren’t listed and I would like to share my opinion.

Ponche (don’t order it!) The juices come in these cute jugs too.

Miraflores

Govinda. Schell 634. A hare-krishna place snuck in admist all the fast food and tourist crap. The menu del dia is about sl.9 and is the best deal around. They have a nice outside seating, a boutique with stuff from India, really sweet desserts and homemade tofu and yogurt. They use lots of veggies and the food is good.

Angelito Verde. 450 Benavides. I haven’t eaten there, but been by it on the way to Govinda. Looks average. The menu is sl. 7 and they appear to have homemade ice cream (not that you should trust signs or menus for what is actually available).

Bircher Benner. Jirón Diez Canseco 487? It’s on the main street east of the park, on a second floor above a retail store. It’s really hot in there, temperature-wise and the servers are in bowties. The food is overpriced, but the menu is interesting (if they have anything available at all. the day I went there they only had the menu del dia and nothing else). The food presentation was nice, but I was not impressed with them for their price.

Centro
Villa Natura. Ucayali 326. Cheap good food, usually packed for lunch with businessmen. Service is bad and they don’t serve anything off the menu until 12pm. The mushroom ceviche is amazing and the menu del dia is always a good deal. The best lunch in the centro, hands down. Don’t order the Ponche drink (pictured) it is gross! I think it was called Ponche and had maca and egg whites in it. The fresh fruit juices and smoothies are amazing! (sadly, no photos of those)

Ucayali 212. Located right next door to villa natura. I haven’t tried it. Looks like all the other generic Peruvian vegetarian restaurants (which isn’t a bad thing).

Block 300 of Camana has at least 4 vegetarian restaurants. My favorite was el Paraiso de Salud (it is across from about 3 veg restarants in a row, it is the one alone). Good food, typical Peruvian Vegetarian stuff with carne de soya. They have sugar cane juice, good smoothies and the best breakfast in town, or at least the only real breakfast in town.
The other restaurants I’ve tried are Vida Sana and los Frutales. Both okay. Don’t get the sandwiches with one ingredient. They are really dry and bland. The soymilk is homemade and delicious. Lunch menus are sl.5-7.

Wa Lok; Paruro 864; Chinese food, overpriced, greasy and not very flavorful. Portions are huge. Service is poor. Not very many exciting vegetarian options. Not worth it!

Salon Capon; Paruro 819; recommended by my travel book, didn’t eat there but would like to. Looks like a lot of dim sum.

Another beverage that I’ve been enjoying in Peru is called emoliente. You can find this in any town, whether in a little mountain village or the big city of Lima. Vendors congregate in the streets at dawn and dusk in plazas or by bus stops with their rolling carts of unlabeled glass bottles of colorful magical ingredients. Emolientes are part of the lifestyle here and people drink them before they go out drinking, after a night of drinking, daily habit or if they are sick. I just like the way they taste and have one whenever I see a cart around. It doesn’t throw us off budget, either as it’s half a sol for a glass (15 cents US)

I think it is a preventative for getting sick. Every person I’ve talked to has told me different benefits of consuming emoliente. I’m surprised something this healthy (and not very palatable) is popular regardless of age or class. All of the ingredients are pretty healing on their own and must be a powerhouse as the mixture. I have seen emoliente kits in stores (a package of dried herbs) but getting it on the street is an experience of its own. The vendor makes your drink by putting in a quantity of his (or your) choosing of each herb and then mixes it with a viscous mixture of aloe vera and flaxseed liquified. He mixes it by pouring it at arm’s length multiple times and I can’t help but be reminded of getting slimed on family double dare, because it looks like a giant stream of snot, every time. But I love the viscous texture and the flavor and the boost it gives my system.

I have asked various vendors about the ingredients and I have squeezed the secrets out of a few guys about what they use:

• The main ingredient is linasa (flax seed) which is well known for being a source of Omega-3′s and lignans (heart-healthy, anti-cancer, blood sugar stabilizer)
• Aloe vera, scraped right off the stem.
• Cola de cabello/Horse tail (it grown near streams and wetlands in the US too) (a diuretic good for the kidneys and bladder and may help with senility due to the high silica content that balances the aluminum in the body)
• Chanca piedra (helps with the kidneys (especially stones), the liver and is an anti-viral that fights intestinal parasites)
• Barley (good source of selenium, phosphorus, copper and manganese and can help combat diabetes, high cholesterol and colon cancer)
• Boldo (cleanses the liver, aids digestion and fights intestinal parasites, among other things)
• Una de gato/Cat’s claw (the inner bark of a jungle vine that helps boost the immune system as well as colds, arthritis, tumors and digestive problems)
• Alfalfa juice (a superfood high in phytonutrients that also can aid in digestion, diabetes and anemia)
• Lime juice (um, Vit C)

Sometimes a few drops of sangre de grado is added. This is not real blood, vegetarians take a breath. It is the sap of a tree that grows in the jungle and it looks like blood and tastes metallic. It’s very antibiotic and antibacterial (great for that traveller’s diarrhea). (We have a little bottle we carry with us and put it on cuts and it’s better than any antibiotic ointment I’ve ever used. It seals the cuts and helps heal them.)

I have also seen them put apples in the boiling mixture with the flaxseeds and horsetail to add some natural sweetness, which is nice because most of the ingredients are quite bitter on their own.

Here’s a link to an emoliente recipe (in Spanish), but it’s not how I would make it. I’ll post my recipe as soon as I can, but to me the most important ingredient is the alfalfa juice!

I am not a big beverage drinker in general since I kicked my addiction to orange juice. My husband and I were going through the family size jug at least once a week. It was delicious and thirst quenching but dangerous for the pancreas since it was such a concentrated sugar rush without the fiber and being processed. My doctor at the time encouraged me to stick to water and teas and if I wanted to juice, to just eat the fruit. It was easy to make the transition and I don’t have juice cravings anymore and am eating more fruit.

My diet has drastically changed since being in Peru for 3 months. Luckily, it’s not as bad as I was worried it would be in a meat-importing country. We have been able to find beans, occasional quinoa and some green vegetables (but not really in restaurants). The fruit options here are amazing and the concept of juice is quite different than in the US. I’ve been drinking juice here again, but it is different than the OJ box binges. Here, juice usually doesn’t come from the supermarket, it comes from your blender. While people may not have ovens or freezers, the one indispensible kitchen item I have noticed in this country is a strong blender.

I have seen people use blenders for making purees, sauces and even grinding entire batches of peppercorns. If you order juice in a restaurant or even on the street, the fruit is pureed whole in the blender with water and a little unbleached sugar (and sometimes strained). It’s a nice in between world of boxed juice and the natural fruit itself. In addition to the blender juices there’s a variety of other drinks available, from fresh-squeezed orange juice, to home-made soymilk, to my current favorite, chicha morada.

Chicha morada is considered a juice and it consists of boiled corn water, to put it bluntly. The purple corn here is inedible to my tastebuds and I have only seen it served as a delicious, rich-tasting drink. There are a lot of recipes to make chicha morada but the majority of them contain cinnamon, lime juice and sugar (and pineapple skins). Chicha morada is different among each person that makes it. Some of them taste like prune juice and some like a version of Kool-Aid. Most people sell it on the street but there are a few companies that mass produce it and sell it like Coke. My favorite recipe comes from a girl I met in Huanchaco, and she serves it cold in a big wine goblet.

Here’s her recipe: (also posted on Cooking Compendium)

Chicha Morada
Yield: about 2 liters (2 quarts)

Ingredients:

• 4 ears of purple corn
• 3 sticks of cinnamon
• 6 whole cloves
• 1.5 liters of water (more or less to your taste)
• 1/2 cup sugar (more or less to your taste)
• 3-4 lemons, juiced (or more)

Method:
1. Place the corn, cinnamon, cloves in a small stockpot and cover with cold water to cover the corn by at least an inch of water. It is better to start with less water and add more to your taste.
2. Bring the water to a boil and boil, uncovered for 10 minutes.
3. Strain the juice and set aside the corn (you can re-use it to make at least 1 more batch of chicha)
4. Add sugar to taste and keep in mind that the sugar will not be as strong when it it cold.
5. Add lime juice to your taste. I use about 2 limes and a little more before serving.
6. Add ice cubes if you can’t wait or cool and drink within 5 days.

Chicha morada is not to be confused with chicha de jora, which is the spit-fermented local brew (tastes like an apple cider vinegar mixed with kombucha). Chicha morada is NOT fermented and is high in antioxidants and helps digestion, control weight, blood pressure and cholesterol. It does have too much sugar for me to drink all the time, but it’s a tasty drink alternative here if you want to avoid all the sugary sodas here, like Inka Kola, which is neon-yellow and tastes like Bubble Yum Bubble Gum.

I don’t really appreciate how nice it is to have your very own kitchen and a well-stocked pantry until I am in a foreign country with an empty kitchen and very little inspiration to cook. I smuggled “Vegan with a Vengeance” with me to Peru, hoping it would provide some sort of light in a tunnel full of meat and dairy (although I’ve been eating really well on the coast..it may help that I’m volunteering at a vegetarian restaurant).  (FYI: Did you know that Peru imports beef from Argentina?  They can’t “grow” enough for the demand in this country.)  I have been able to find many ingredients I would have thought difficult: soy milk, flax seeds, soya de carne (which looks just like dog food and tastes like wet bread). But the one ingredient that really makes vegan baking possible is baking soda. And that has been my drama.

Peru is not known for their chocolate, it is more like Hershey’; and I, after 23 years of snubbing all chocolate, will only eat enjoy the dark, bitter chocolate (70%+), like Dagoba. Desserts here tend to have a lot of sugar, butter and eggs. While craving chocolate and an alternative to the desserts available in the store, I came across Isa’s Banana Pudding Brownies and my mouth started watering. I’m not much of a cake person, but gooey fudgey brownies will make my day, any day. So, for the past week I have been collecting ingredients. I have found chocolate, cocoa, sugar (the main sugar here is raw unbleached sugar cane: Yay!).  But the one ingredient that has eluded me is the baking soda.

My Spanish dictionary lists the translation as bicarbonato de soda. I asked at bodegas; I asked at the restaurant I work at.  Everyone said to go to Trujillo. At work they suggested I use polvo de hornear (baking powder)…but my research suggests it is NOT a valid substitute. Baking soda is 4x as strong as the powder, but they are not equal. You can try, but it won’t behave the same. Apparently you can substitute baking soda for baking powder (1 tsp baking powder=1/4 tsp baking soda+1/2 tsp cream of tartar). It won’t work the other way around because the powder contains acid to neutralize it. Normally in recipes for baking soda, there is something acidic in the recipe to neutralize the soda (vinegar, lemon juice, chocolate, buttermilk). So after an evening full of drama making lasagna here, I didn’t want a disaster with my brownies.

I continued my search, fearing a trip to Trujillo was necessary. I was going to check the pharmacy today (a recommendation by a local) but when I was buying my fruit at the market next door, I found baking powder…and thought, this is good enough, I’ll risk it. Somedays I don’t have the energy to describe and hunt for things in spanish in a spanish-speaking country. At the check-out, I asked the woman if she carried bicarbonato de soda. I had to say it twice, but when she understood me, she sent me to the back of the store, where a woman handed me a bag of white powder that was among the spices, beans and chicken feet.

I am hoping it really is baking soda. It was only 10 centimos (3 cents), but I’ll let you know if I feel funny after eating the brownies. I don’t know if it was that silly Celsius scale (I baked them at 180 degrees Celsius) or Mariella’s lack of an oven thermometer, but they got a bit overcooked. The topping and about half of the brownie was salvagable. They were a little thin in the 9×13 pan, I think next time I’ll go one smaller because I like my brownies thick and moist and gooey (and I’ll monitor them a little closer)….so I’m pretty sure I bought baking soda for my brownies. Hooray!  I’m thinking of carrying it with me in case of a baking soda emergency, but I’m worried I might have trouble at the border crossing with my little bag of white powder.  (“Really officer, it’s for my vegan baking…What’s a vegan?  Well, maybe I should have Steven explain it to you..”)

I haven’t been carrying my camera everywhere, so you’ll have to excuse the lack of photos of food when we’ve eaten out. But here are a few photos of some of our home-cooked meals, in an unfamiliar kitchen with a hovering hostess…making the process of cooking less than ideal.

Breakfast at first (when it was cold) was a lot of oatmeal with strawberry jam. Now that it’s warmed up and I’m not suffering from as many viruses, I’ve started craving fresh fruit with locally produced yogurt. (Just yesterday I found out there’s soy yogurt to be purchased in this town…but we leave tomorrow). The fruit options here are endless and exciting. This day we see banana (platano), starfruit (carambola), passionfruit (maracuya) and trigo atomico (puffed wheat). I find it amusing they use atomico for puffed. Puff is such a gentle word, but atomico! Like an explosion of fluffy goodness. Ironically enough, the puffed amaranth here they call kiwicha, sometimes kiwicha tostada. But it’s not toasted seeds; it’s the tiniest baby popcorn in the world. High in protein and delicious. I’ve made it at home before, just heat your skillet until it almost burns (no oil) then throw in a tablespoon of amaranth seeds, cover, and let pop.

Granadilla

This little beauty, called Granadilla also made it into my yogurt. I thought it was passionfruit at the market and was surprised that it was NOT acidic like passionfruit is. The goo is clear, unlike passionfruit, which has yellow goo…or whatever that botanical term is (pulp?). The outer skin is a little more orange than passionfruit, but it’s basically the same size. It is in the same genus as passionfruit (Passiflora edulis), but has a different species name (Passiflora ligularis). My dictionary lists granadilla as the feminine fruit and maracuya as the masculine..but they are two unique fruits to me. Granadilla has vitamins A, C, and K, phosphorus, iron, and calcium. I was informed by a local that it is good for babies’ finnicky and sensitive tummies (just make sure you make a juice from it and strain the seeds…we don’t want any choking babies out there on my account). Maybe I should make a batch for my unhappy tummy as well.

For our lunch (actually we have multiple variations of this meal because it is so simple and tasty) we indulged in the processed mozzarella cheese to make some bruschettas. This picture has some fresh tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, garlic and the cheese. The market was sold out of basil, but that would have topped it off perfectly. The basil here (albahaca) is big and beautiful and pungently delicious. I made a caprese sandwich for a day trip one day and it stunk up the whole combi with goodness.

Hopefully everyone knows by now how important it is to buy food and products produced locally. If not, check out this website for a more detailed answer. Overall, it’s better for the environment (fossil fuels used in travelling, more preservatives for shelf life), your health (fresher products contain more nutrients) and supporting your local economy and the little wo/men of the world.

While I was in culinary school, my program was very progressive and there was a big push to know your farmer, cheesemaker, butcher etc. It just makes sense to know where you spend your money and if you can support your own community with those dollars, it is all for the best.

Now that I’m in Peru, there’s plenty of imported products, but they seem to reflect the cost of transport in their price. A Snickers bar costs more here than a local candy bar, which makes sense. Anyways, there’s plenty of local things to buy and artisan people to support. You don’t really find the organic lingo all over Peru like in the US and it’s not because things aren’t organic, there just isn’t a push by the consumers to have the certification. I’m sure a lot of our produce here is organic, but it’s not because the farmer wants to be organic, it’s just how his/her parents farmed and it works. I’m not saying that people don’t use pesticides, etc on their crops, I’m sure some do and some don’t. ANYWAYS, it’s good to talk to your produce vendor and get the details from them.

The whole point of my post is that I have found a product in Huanchaco that supports local dairy farmers as well as a good cause, Mundo de ninos. Mundo de ninos is a boy’s home for streetchildren. Usually they are not orphans, just victims of extreme poverty or family problems: drug abuse, physical abuse, neglect. These boys took to the streets to make money (shine shoes, sell candy) for their family but because of their situation, they spent more time on the streets and it slowly became their home. The home is located in Huanchaco and teaches the boys about respect, values, living in a community and making time to be kids and play. They also make yogurt. And it’s good yogurt (for Peru, it’s a little to thin for my preference) that comes in Vanilla, Strawberry, Pineapple, Passionfruit and other flavors. I paid sl. 3.50 for a liter of yogurt, and apparently that’s cheaper than the mass produced brand name yogurt in the market. Not that that matters. I’m just excited that I can buy my yogurt and have every penny go to this boys’ home and their efforts to keep kids off the street and give them hope for a better life.

A new food discovery that I have made while in Peru is Hierba luisa, a grass-like plant that tends to grow easily on the coast of Northern Peru. I bought a box of Hierba luisa tea at the market because I didn’t know what it was and I wanted to try it. It has a strong lemon aroma and taste, almost like lemon-heads candy. Then when I started working at Otra Cosa, the couple that started OC have Hierba luisa growing in their garden. It’s such a distinctive, amazing herb. Here in Peru they cut off the leaves and steep it in hot water for tea. The research that I was able to compile is that it’s the same plant as the lemongrass used in Asian cuisines, except the bottom two inches of the hard stem is used for cooking instead of the leaves. I don’t really understand why the leaves are not used, because in Peru, that’s the most popular part. I have yet to see people dig up their lemongrass plants and use the stem, they just trim the leaves on the plant.

Lemongrass has some different species within the genus, one is used for citronella production and another is for making geraniol oil for the perfume industry. Lemongrass has many medicinal properties such as helping with arthritis, stress and stomach problems. It is high in anti-oxidants as well.

I was honored to be asked to create a cocktail for our volunteer coordinator’s birthday party at Otra Cosa. I thought it would only be fitting to use this popular plant in a different way. I’m happy to say that it was a big hit with the Peruvians and the extranjeros. I thought I’d share the recipe for you to try.

This cocktail is subtle with the lemongrass but has a nice kick to it with fresh ginger. I really like the presentation when you put it in the blender. Feel free to change the quantities of lemongrass or ginger for your own personal mix.

Juany Troga

for 2 servings

1/2″ slice of peeled ginger, roughly chopped
5 blades of lemongrass (about 10 inches long)
3 Tbl sugar, raw is preferred
3 fl oz water
2 fl oz rum (or more)
4 fl oz agua con gas (like perrier or something)
a dash of cinnamon

1. Place the ginger, lemongrass, sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 5-10 minutes.
3. Let the syrup cool to room temperature and strain out the ginger and lemongrass.
4. Place the syrup, run and carbonated water in a blender and pulse for about 5 seconds, or until it is nice and frothy.
5. Pour into your favorite cocktail glass and decorate with cinnamon.

Any extra syrup can be saved for later in an airtight container, refrigerated.