PERU - Pancakes in Colca Canyon

COLCA CANYON

We did a 3 day trek at Colca Canyon (twice as deep as the Grand Canyon), and were so well looked after by our guide Carlitos. Staying on a farm with the locals, we picked avocados and oranges off the trees, and ate some good local dishes including alpaca stew.

The locals of Colca Canyon

Breakfast one morning – Pancakes filled with banana and our favourite manjor blanco caramel. Great energy for our trek!

Don't worry, we didn't sample the other local delicacy - Cuy (roasted Guinea Pig)!!

Too cute to eat!!

So, for me, Peru has had many tasty treats!  Some of Dean’s favourites have been Inca Cola and Sublime bars, both of which we’ve stocked up on fearing they won’t be available in Bolivia!

PERU - Jugo de Rana (Poor Kermit!)

Whilst in Arequipa, as well as cakes, we ate some other interesting Peruvian dishes:

Pollo alla Brassa
Everywhere you go in Peru you see little shops and cafes with signs for this delicacy, basically it is roast chicken, served with chips and piquante spicy and garlicy sauces. So cheap and fantastic!

FACT – Did you know there are over 400 varieties of potato in Peru!!

Cerviche
A delicacy of the coast, raw fish marinated in lemon juice and served with onion, salad and toasted corn. Really fresh and healthy!

Jugos de frutas
The valleys and jungles of Peru provide a huge variety of tropical fruits – oranges, lemons, mangos, passion fruit, papaya, pineapple, bananas. We’ve tried some delicious freshly pressed fruit juices from the many Jugos de frutas stalls.

Jugo de Rana
Not my favourite of Peruvian specialities, but it had to be sampled! Yes, frog juice! Once all the other ingredients have been added, including fruit juices, herbs, cereals, the frog is only a very small part. You definitely can’t taste it, but just knowing it’s in there isn’t too appealing!!

Queso helados
There are many ice cream parlours around Arequipa with lots of delicious flavours of chocolate, caramel, coconut, tropical fruits, and Queso – Cheese! It was actually really delicious, so creamy, and with a wee sprinkle of cinnamon tasted just like home-made rice pudding!

And to top of an evening, the local tipple - A Pisco Sour!

Pisco is a brandy distilled in the coastal region of Pisco just south of Lima. The cocktail is made from pisco, lemon and egg white.

• 1/4 cup (2 oz.) pisco (see notes)
• 1 tablespoon sugar 
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice 
• 1 teaspoon pasteurized egg whites

Preparation

• In a blender, whirl 3 ice cubes, pisco, sugar, fresh lime juice, and egg whites. Whirl until smooth  and serve straight up in a martini glass with a dash of aromatic bitters and a wedge of lime.
• 
  

PERU - The Baking Nuns of Santa Catalina Convent

Tarta # 2 from the Nuns of Santa Catalina Convent - Arequipa

Our next stop in Arequipa was the Santa Catalina Convent. Built in the 1700's, it has housed nuns for hundreds of years and was only opened to the public in the 1970’s. A beautiful labyrinth of brightly coloured streets, cloisters and courtyards with orange and lemon trees and bright red geraniums, it was a peaceful escape from the busy city.

The cloisters of the Santa Catalina Convernt

The nuns over the years have produced many items which they sold to the outside world including tapestries, embroidered goods, and CAKES!! Found the café in a beautiful garden courtyard and although we had enjoyed a bit of a cake fest earlier, I couldn’t resist the menu!

The Sweets Section read – Temptations and Sins, with choices of Chocolate Temptation, Gluttony(Provocative Lemon pie), Jealousy (The jealous Pecan pie), Passion (passion fruit tart),  I had to go for Arrogance (the proud carrot cake) – The intense flavours of pecans and spices, mixed together with the subtle flavour of carrots. DELICIOSO!! One of the finest carrot cakes I have tasted! Good work Nuns!!

Sinful cakes in the convent!

PERU - Arequipa Alfajores

Country # 1 - PERU    

Peru is claimed to be the gastronomic capital of South America, with  specialities ranging from seafood on the coast  - ceviche (raw fish marinated in lemon juice, onion and hot peppers) , to corn and potatoes in the Highlands, hearty meat dishes - lomo saltado (stir fried beef), and cuy - guinea pig, and tropical yucca and fried bananas. Not sure about tasting guinea pig, but we'll see!!

I haven't seen too much in the guidebooks about cakes, but I'm sure we'll find some along the way!

Arequipa, Peru 

Well, for me, Arequipa has been the eating place of Peru. Here we tried all sorts of things from cheese ice-cream, to huge cream cakes, and frog juice!!

The owner of our hostel (La Casa de los Pinguinos) gave me great advice on where to go for the best coffee and cakes, and even gave me a huge pile of Peruvian cake recipe books to look through. She did say though that the recipes may not necessarily work back home because here they have a different type of sugar, and the altitude has an effect on the baking time!

Many a recipe book to try and translate from Spanish!!

Tarta Numero Uno 
So, we set off in search of cakes! First stop Café Luciano’s where the window display of huge fruit cream cakes draws you in.

Mmmmm! Which one to chose?

We sat in and whilst having a coffee and some local specialities, one person after another came in to buy one of the huge cakes from the window! Here I tried a biscuit we’ve since seen in many places around Peru – Alfajores. It’s basically shortbread sandwiched together with a thick gooey layer of dulche con leche (see below). Found a recipe in one of the books, but if it  doesn’t work out, I think it’d be easy to adapt with your own favourite shortbread!!

Recipe for Alfajores de Maicena (maize)

1 cup of margarine
1 cup of ground maize (or maybe ground almonds if that’s easier to find)
1 cup of flour
6 spoons of sugar
50 grams dessicated coconut
Dulche de leche (manjor blanco) * See notes later on

1. Put the butter and ground maize in a bowl with the sugar and flour.
2. Rub together into a dough, then roll out and cut into circles.
3. Bake in the oven at 170 for around 15 minutes
4. Leave to cool, then sandwich together with manjor blanco.
5. Make a mixture of the coconut and a bit of cinnamon (or cocoa) and roll the biscuits in it so it sticks to the caramel.

Dulche con Leche - definition from wikipedia

Dulce de leche (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈdulse ðe ˈletʃe]; Portuguese: doce de leite, IPA: [ˈdosi dʒi ˈlejtʃi]) is a thick, caramel-like milk-based sauce or spread.

Literally translated, dulce de leche means "sweet from milk". It is prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a product that derives its taste from caramelised sugar. It is a popular sweet in Latin America, where it is known under a variety of names. In Chile, Ecuador and Panama it is known as manjar. In Peru, Colombia and Venezuela it is referred to asmanjar blanco or arequipe, depending on regional variations. In Mexico and Nicaragua is is commonly called cajeta. It is also found in Brazil, known by its Portuguese name doce de leite.

Gloria - Dulche de Leche found in shops all over Peru!!