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Tallarines Verdes - Vegan Peruvian Pesto

Whenever I tell anyone that I’m going to make “Peruvian Pesto” they always look at me quizzically and wonder what’s so special about “Peruvian” pesto, and why did Peruvians decide to change an already delicious Italian pesto. So let me give you a little history on Peruvian cuisine (bear with me, it’ll be interesting!)

Italians started immigrating to Peru in the mid 1800’s, settling along the coast. They became the 2nd largest european colony in Peru, after the Spanish of course. Unlike in other south American countries, the number of immigrants wasn’t too large, and they were mostly horticulturers and small businessmen from Genoa and northern Italy. Although in small numbers, their impact in peruvian cuisine and commerce was huge. Their settlement on the coast was not without reason - they became the leaders in maritime commerce and the shipyard industry.

Other than bringing mercantilism, commerce, and starting our export/import industry, the Italians also brought with them vegetables that were either not grown or not commonly used in Peru such as basil, spinach and eggplant, among others. Genoa is known for its Pesto, commonly made with basil, olive oil, pine nuts and parmesan cheese. Peruvians, intrigued by their spaghetti and green sauce, decided to adopt it, but pine nuts and parmesan cheese were foreign to them. To accommodate, Peruvians decided to use fresh, farmer’s cheese (each region has its very own style and recipe for making such cheese, “queso fresco” in spanish), and totally skip the nuts or go for almonds or cashews. Then, for some reason, they decided to add spinach to the mix. I can’t really understand why, maybe they wanted to make the sauce greener? (After all, “tallarines verdes” is literally translated to “green spaghetti.”) Thing is, they did well because it is delicious. Then, to make it creamier, they added evaporated milk to the recipe.

The recipe I’m going to give is the one my family has been using for generations, only veganized of course. We don’t use nuts but I’m intrigued on how cashews would work out. 

You need:
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/8 cup minced garlic, more or less. It really depends on how much you like garlic.
1 - 1 1/2 cup basil
1 - 1 1/2 cup spinach 
1/4 block firm tofu
almond milk, as needed to make it creamy
1/2 - 1 Tbspoon of nutricional yeast (I really just add it as I feel I need it, you know, for that cheesy taste and the B vitamins)
olive oil, as needed
salt & pepper to taste
and of course, pasta! Traditionally, spaghetti or linguini shape is used but you can go crazy if you’d like. I’ve been using Quinoa spaghetti lately and it is oh so nommy. 

There are a couple ways to put this together. Start cooking your pasta, I’m sure you know how. On a pan with hot oil, sauté the onions and garlic (basic first step in all peruvian cooking! You should know this by now.) Get a blender or food processor and process the basil and spinach. Cut the tofu in manageable pieces and add to the food processor. Add the olive oil, milk, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. It should have a creamy consistency. My family used to add very little salt because queso fresco is naturally salty, so I’ve learned to add more salt in my vegan recipes, but of course, it all depends on how much sodium you want in your diet.

Here’s where things go a little different. My family usually just adds the onions and garlic to the processed mixture and then adds to the cooked pasta. Others prefer to put the pan with the onions on low and add the pasta, and then stir in the sauce mixture. Either way will give you similar results. 

Ta-da! Done! So delicious and creamy. Peruvians traditionally like to serve this pasta with steak (weird, I know), and/or roasted yellow potato wedges (actually delicious). My family (and some others) serves it with fried (or in my case, baked) sweet potato slices, and that is usually how I like to serve it. Our obsession with sweet-n-salty can be seen in every meal!

P.S: I’m going to update that picture soon.

Lentil and Quinoa Vegan Patties

I love lentils. I love quinoa. So I made some patties. I made this up from scratch after not finding any recipes for patties online that I liked enough. 

You need:
1/2 cup lentils
1/2 cup white quinoa
1/2 pack firm tofu
1/4-1/2 cup chopped onions 
1/2 Tbspoon aji amarillo (yellow hot pepper paste)
cumin powder
garlic powder (or fresh minced garlic)
dash of soy sauce/tamari
black pepper and salt 

Cook the lentils and quinoa (about 2 cups of water). Mash tofu and add everything else. Add the spices to taste, I personally like garlic and cumin flavor so I put a lot of it in. Make into patties (makes about 16). Bake at 400 degrees F, about 10 minutes each side, but you know the drill, all ovens are different so keep an eye on it. It should be done when brown on top. I serve it with tomatoes, spinach and hummus, but I guess you could eat it with bread too.

Palta Rellena - Stuffed Avocado

This dish is so easy to prepare, and so delicious, that I don’t know why only Peru claims it as a national dish.

If you’re cooking for yourself or want a light dish for two people you only need: a ripe Avocado, some carrots (about half a cup), a potato (it’ll fill about half a cup when cut into squares), some green peas, white corn (I made a mixture of both and got about half a cup), some lime juice or a limes, vegan mayo, and of course some salt a pepper.

Cook the veggies (not the avocado, obviously). Don’t peel the potato before boiling, wait until it is cooked. Then chop the carrots up in small pieces and the potato in small squares. Put the carrots, peas, potatoes and corn in a small mixing bowl and add about a tablespoon of vegan mayo. Mix it all together, add lime juice, salt and pepper. Cut the avocado in half lengthwise, peel it and remove the seed without completely destroying the avocado. Put a little lime juice on the avocado and stuff the center with the veggie mixture. Garnish with spinach, or well lettuce, spinach is just more delicious. 

The classic peruvian dish includes shredded cooked chicken on top, or some sort of seafood, and garnishes with a drop of ketchup-mayo mix. I usually skip the sauce and sometimes add cooked beets instead, to give that slightly sweet flavor, and of course pack it with more vitamins and such.

The picture looks like a big mess because I had more veggie mixture than could fit in the avocados. Avocados in peru are just much larger… Meh, who cares, it all went in my belly anyway. 

Simple quinoa stew, Andean style.

Rise your quinoa well, otherwise it’ll be bitter. Boil it with about double the amount of water (so if you’re cooking a cup of quinoa, put in two cups of water). Sauté some onions and garlic while the water boils off completely. If you have yellow potatoes around, peel them and cut them into squares and add to the boiling quinoa about half way through the boil. To the onion/garlic mix, add a little bit of yellow hot pepper paste. Add to the quinoa/potatoes when fully cooked, and then add a dash of almond milk (quinoa stews in the Andes are kind of creamy), and tofu squares if you’d like. The tofu will taste even better if previously marinated with a little bit of yellow hot pepper paste and garlic powder. If you’re lucky enough to find white corn on the cob, it is a great side for this dish. I just add corn to the stew itself. Add salt to taste.

Christmas Dinner at the Lopez Goicochea house!

Pretty much my first time attempting to veganize our christmas dinner. Although it included homemade tofurkey, applesauce, marinated mushrooms, olive rice, sweet and sour carrot salad on greens, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cookies and panettone, this post will focus on the tofurkey. Might be a little late, but tofurkey is good for any occasion… right? Try it out next time you have dinner guests.

It was my first time ever making a tofurkey roast and I was pretty happy about it. Used 2 and a half blocks of extra-firm tofu and processed it with lime (not lemon) juice, salted capers, parsley, (little) salt, pepper, a little peruvian yellow hot pepper paste. This will give it a more traditional Peruvian taste, or at least the one we’re used to in my family. Pour it on some cheese cloth, put it on a collander with a dish underneath, wrap the cheese cloth and put some weight on top. Leave it in the fridge overnight (or at least for 3 hours). Then carve the center, fill it with stuffing and patch it up with the tofu mix. If you want to be silly you can make wings and legs with the left over tofu, but I didn’t. Flip it around carefully on a greased pan. I used parchment paper.

You’ll need to marinate the little bastard. My marinade was made up of rocoto pepper paste (this is a typical Peruvian flavor, you can find this paste in most “exotic foods” isle on supermarkets, or latino stores), a little lime juice, soy sauce, pepper, and a little of the caper/parsley/yellow pepper paste mix used for the tofu. Cover the entire roast with it and Pop it into a preheated oven (350 F). Marinate it every 15 minutes or so and let it roast for an hour and a half. You can leave it in as long as you want really, but make sure it doesn’t dry up or crack too much. Patch it up with the marinade while pushing the tofu pieces together if it starts breaking apart.

You’ll be able to slice it like a pie. Peruvians like to combine sweet and salty flavors so I’d recommend a side of applesauce. And rice. Peruvians love their rice.