Peru Travel Guide - Cuisine and Traditional Foods Guide

Peruvian Traditional Foods

The Peruvian dish Cuy served in a top Cusco restaurant

Peru is known throughout South American for its excellent and inventive traditional dishes. The most common ingredients found in Peruvian dishes are rice, potatoes, chicken, guinea pig, pork, lamb, and fish. Aji, a hot pepper unique to the country, and red rocoto pepper are the most popular spices. There are also over 200 varieties of potatoes in the Lake Titicaca area, ranging from small to large and are purple, blue, yellow, or brown in color.

When in Peru be sure to try some of these traditional dishes, which are called Comida Criollo:

Lomo saltado:
chopped steak fried with onions, tomatoes, potatoes and rice

Tamales:
ground corn stuffed with meet or cheese

Ceviche:
cold, raw seafood marinated in lemon juice, peppers, and onions and served with cold potatoes.

Palta a la jardinera:
avocado stuffed with cold vegetables or salad.

Causa:
potatoes with lemons, lettuce, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, olives, sweet potato, and served with an onion sauce.

Cuy:
roasted guinea pig

Anticucho de Corazon:
beef hearts on kebabs

Choclo con queso:
corn on the cob with melted cheese.

Locro:
potatoe soup with corn and avocadoes

Rocoto Relleno:
green peppers stuffed with beef and vegetables

Papa a la Huancaina:
potatoes with spicy sauce and cheese

Sopa a la criolla:
roasted suckling pig

Escabeche:
fish with onions, peppers, prawns, eggs, and olives

Chupe de camarones:
shrimp stew

Aji de gallina:
spicy chicken in a milk sauce

Adobo de Cerdo:
Pork sauce served with white rice

Arroz con Pollo:
Boiled chicken over green rice and with a green sauce

Carapulca:
dried and diced potatoes with pork, steak, and rice

Cau Cau:
tripe and dice potatoes

Ocopa:
boiled potatoes in a cheese and nut sauce

Pachamanca:
a typical dish from the desert, it consists of lamb, pork, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a tamale.

Parihuela:
fish, shrimp, crabs, mussels and octopus served with yucca and rice

Seco de Frijoles:
boiled beans with lamb stew and green sauce, served with white rice and onions and seasoned with lemon and aji.

Sauces

Traditional Peruvian food is served with many different sauces, usually using several types of peppers. Most restaurants serve a green hot sauce made out of aji peppers, cilantro, salt, oil, and garlic. Peruvians also have their own recipe for mayonnaise, which gives the ordinary sauce a little zing with peppers, lemon juice, and herbs. Rocoto sauce is made with rocoto peppers from the highlands that are ground up and seasoned with oil, lemon, and herbs.