The atlas · A cuisine · Peru — the Pacific coast, the Andes and the Amazon

Peruvian

Also Peru, Criollo, Comida peruana

Andean potatoes, maize and chillies, met by Spanish, African, Chinese and Japanese cooks — and a coast that eats its fish raw in lime.

Where it comes from

The Andes gave the kitchen its roots: thousands of kinds of potato, maize, quinoa, and the ajíes — the chillies that colour nearly everything. The Spanish brought beef, onions, garlic and limes, and enslaved Africans brought cooks whose hands shaped much of what Lima still eats in the street.

From the mid-nineteenth century, Chinese labourers and then Japanese immigrants arrived, and both stayed in the food. Chifa, Peru's Chinese-Peruvian cooking, put soy sauce and the wok into ordinary kitchens; Nikkei cooking brought a Japanese hand to Peruvian fish.

Where in it

  1. LimaThe capital, where every strand of the kitchen meets: criollo stews, Afro-Peruvian street food, chifa, Nikkei, and cevicherías busy until mid-afternoon.CevicheLomo saltadoAjí de gallinaAnticuchosPan con chicharrónPicarones
  2. ArequipaThe white city under its volcanoes, famous for its picanterías — old-style eating houses serving rocoto relleno, chupe de camarones and chicha.Rocoto relleno
  3. CuscoThe old Inca capital, high in the Andes: potatoes and maize in more kinds than most cooks have seen, roast cuy, and chiriuchu, the cold feast plate of Corpus Christi.
  4. Chiclayo and the north coastLambayeque's rich coastal cooking — arroz con pato green with coriander, cabrito, and ceviche made with the region's own fish and chillies.Arroz con pato
  5. Iquitos and the AmazonA river city reached by boat or plane, eating from the forest and the Amazon: juane in bijao leaves, tacacho of plantain, and river fish such as paiche.Juane

How it cooks

Curing in lime
Raw fish dressed in fresh lime juice and salt for minutes, not hours — firm outside, still soft within.
Aderezo
Onion, garlic and ají paste fried slowly together — the base under most stews and sauces.
Saltado
Chifa's gift: a wok over a fierce flame, meat and vegetables tossed fast with soy and vinegar.
Pachamanca
An Andean earth oven — meat, potatoes and herbs cooked on hot stones buried in the ground.

Always in the kitchen

ají amarilloají pancarocotolimesred oniongarlicpotatoessweet potatochoclocorianderhuacataycuminsoy sauceevaporated milk

Cook from it

Tonight, with what's good in October

Its classics

PeruvianCevicheRaw white fish cut into chunks and cured briefly in lime juice with red onion, chilli and salt.No one here has made it yetPeruvianLomo saltadoStrips of beef stir-fried in a wok with onion, tomato, soy and vinegar, served with chips and rice.No one here has made it yetPeruvianAjí de gallinaShredded hen in a thick yellow sauce of ají amarillo, bread soaked in milk, nuts and cheese, over rice.No one here has made it yetPeruvianAnticuchosSkewers of beef heart marinated in ají panca, vinegar, cumin and garlic, grilled over charcoal.No one here has made it yetPeruvianPan con chicharrónPork simmered then fried in its own fat, in a crusty roll with fried sweet potato and salsa criolla.No one here has made it yetPeruvianPicaronesRings of squash and sweet potato dough, fried and drenched in a spiced syrup of chancaca.No one here has made it yetPeruvianSalsa criollaRed onion sliced thin and soaked, dressed with lime, ají, coriander and salt.No one here has made it yetPeruvianRocoto rellenoRocoto chillies, blanched to tame them, stuffed with spiced beef, peanuts and raisins, topped with cheese and baked.No one here has made it yetPeruvianArroz con patoDuck browned and braised with beer, ají and a purée of coriander, then rice cooked in the green broth until it's full of flavour.No one here has made it yetPeruvianJuaneRice seasoned with turmeric and cumin, packed round chicken, egg and olive in bijao leaves, tied and boiled.No one here has made it yet

How it got here

From 1849 · from GuangdongCantonese cookingChinese labourers, mostly from the south, began arriving in Peru in 1849. Their wok cooking met Peruvian ingredients and became chifa — and soy sauce and the stir-fry found their way into dishes like lomo saltado.Lomo saltado →
1899 · from YokohamaJapanese immigrantsThe first organised group of Japanese workers reached Peru in 1899. Their descendants' Nikkei cooking brought a Japanese hand to Peruvian fish — the short cure for ceviche, and tiradito.Ceviche →

Cooked here

No one here has cooked Peruvian yet.