My mother knows there aren't many Peruvian restaurants in Ohio, so she sent me an old Peruvian cookbook. Now, I'd rather have a Peruvian cook than a Peruvian cookbook, but I guess visas are hard to come by (unless you're willing to marry the guy).
Regardless, my mom's little gift inspired my recent desire to push Peruvian cuisine through my "Re: visiting Peru" articles.
With that in mind, I took the cookbook on a test-run right away, making the Seco de Pollo shown above.
Seco de Pollo is a delicious, cilantro-infused chicken dish served with peas, carrots, rice and potatoes. "Seco" literally means "dry" in Spanish, but (if you do it right) this dish is anything but, with moist chicken and flavorful starches.
If you want to reproduce this dish, you'll need -
- 6 pieces of chicken
- salt, black pepper, ground cumin (to taste)
- olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 cup of diced onion
- aji verde (to taste)
- 1/4 cup of blended cilantro
- 3/4 cup of peas
- 1 cup of sliced carrots
- lime juice (about 1 lime's worth)
1. season the chicken with salt, black pepper, and ground cumin
2. fry chicken in large sauce pan until golden brown; set aside
3. fry the onion, garlic, and aji verde on lower heat in same pan until onion is translucent
4. add cilantro, peas, and carrots
5. add chicken and cook on medium-low heat for 25 minutes, or until the chicken is done
6. squeeze the juice of the lime into the pot once finished
7. serve with rice and potatoes
Cilantro can be difficult to find fresh. Try to buy cilantro when it's cheap, pluck the leaves off the bunches, and blend it with a bit of water. You can also freeze pureed cilantro in an ice cube tray, keeping it fresh.
Aji verde might be a even more difficult to come by. "Aji" is a pepper indigenous to South America, which has a very distinctive taste. You can substitute jalapeño peppers if you can't find any version of aji in the Latin section of your grocery store ... but if you want to keep the recipe fully authentic, you can always order aji verde online from Amigo Foods or Latin Market.
I hope you try this version of the recipe ... and let me know what you think in the comments!
