Fiesta Limena Peruvian Food

The Boston Globe lists Peruvian food as one of the Top 8 Food Trends for 2012, quoting chef Jose Duarte of Taranta. This is just one more mention to add to the list. Which Peruvian dishes have you tried? Many people try Lomo Saltado, Chaufa, or Ceviche when they’re first exploring our Peruvian menu, but there are many more dishes to choose from, as well as daily specials. Follow us on Twitter to learn more about our specials: www.twitter.com/fiestaperufood or scroll through our blog posts to learn about a long list of Peruvian dishes, cooking styles, drinks, recipes, holidays, and traditions. As we welcome 2012, the Year of Peruvian Food, we’ll be sure to update more often to give you the latest information about Fiesta Restaurants and Peruvian food’s rising fame around the world!

The tamale is another native Peruvian Food delicacy that was adapted when the Spanish came to Peru. The original husks filled with ground corn were called humitas; the name was changed to tamales when the Spaniards added new ingredients. To make traditional humitas, remove the kernels from fresh corn on the cob and grind it. Then add onions, garlic, Aji Amarillo Paste, salt and cumin to taste and spoon into corn husks. For tamales, blend chick peas in a food processor to create a paste. Add some melted butter, cilantro, salt and pepper and cook over low heat until the mixture starts to come together in a mass. Add bite sized pieces of chicken before spreading inside the corn husks. Serve either variation with Salsa Criolla, a mixture of red onions, aji amarillo, vinegar, cilantro, key lime juice and salt.

Peruvian olives are called Aceituna de Botija. These are the olives we use to garnish dishes like Papa a la Huancaina, one of our most popular appetizers. They are purple and have a taste similar to kalamatas. Aceitunas can also be used to make an olive mayonnaise. This olive mayonnaise is an essential part of the traditional octopus dish, Pulpo al Olivo. You can also add whole or sliced aceitunas to sandwiches, wraps or salads. Sometimes these particular olives can be hard to find, but they are available online at Mama Tina’s along with other Peruvian Food staples. Follow the link to buy Peruvian olives online or come to Fiesta Limena for some Papa a la Huancaina today!

With Peru’s long coastline, fish and seafood are an important part of the typical Peruvian menu. From octopus to shrimp, calamari to mussels, you’ll find a large variety of seafood dishes at Peruvian restaurants. One of our daily soups is Chupe de Camarones, or Peruvian shrimp chowder. It’s seasoned with a punch of creole seasonings and is finished with a bit of cream. Try this soup or one of our others – Aguadito de Mariscos, Sopa de Pescado, Sopa de Choros and Sopa de Almejas are all offered daily at Fiesta Limena. We also offer occasional soup specials. Ask your server for more info.

Do you like beef, carrots, potatoes, yucca, and corn on the cob? Do you have a big appetite? If you answered yes to these two questions, you’ll love Sancochado. It’s one of our specials today at Fiesta Limena Peruvian Restaurant. All of the ingredients are served on a plate along with a bowl of stock. Add them to the broth to make your own soup with just the right amount of each flavor. This is the traditional way to enjoy this authentic Peruvian soup, which is served in restaurants in Lima as well as the Andean region of Peru. It’s not only hearty and filling, but also a healthy choice for lunch or dinner with basic, nutritious ingredients.

We’ve mentioned Mistura before, the annual food festival that is held in Lima each September. This one event brings together high-end chefs, street vendors, and everything in between. Now it’s becoming known throughout Hollywood. Patricia Perez, a member of the Director’s Guild of America, brought the spotlight to her native Peru with a documentary called “Mistura: The Power of Food,” which won Best Short Foreign Documentary at the 16th International Family Film Festival this past week. The documentary features Gaston Acurio, celebrity chef and founder of Mistura, who explains the the growing popularity of Peruvian food throughout the world. In the trailer, Acurio says, “Peruvian cooks, we are soldiers of our country, of our nation. We don’t drive tanks or airplanes or kill anybody. What we do is win people’s hearts.” His passion for Peruvian food is clear, and he plans to conquer the international culinary world with Peruvian specialties. As more Americans hear about Mistura and see the documentary, there will undoubtedly be more foreign visitors at the festival this year from September 9th to September 18th.

Peru’s Deputy Minister of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Industries Bernardo Roca-Rey is traveling to Washington, D.C. today to accept an award on behalf of his country. Peruvian cuisine is being named as a “Heritage of the Americas” by the Organization of American States, and Roca-Rey will give a presentation on Peruvian food during the ceremony. This distinction will bring Peru’s cuisine even more attention internationally, and shows that Peru is truly becoming known as the origin of one of the world’s finest cuisines. From hearty lomo saltado to fresh ceviche, we’re proud to serve some of Peru’s most traditional and authentic dishes at Fiesta Limena. Many of our guests try Peruvian food for the first time at our restaurant, and we’re happy to introduce them to the best kept secret in the culinary world.

We recently heard from a first time customer at Fiesta Limena who said he loves to cook and judges restaurants pretty quickly. He told us he ordered the octopus soup to see right away how fresh our seafood was, and he was blown away by how good it was. He said he isn’t used to having such fresh fish in restaurants, but at Fiesta Limena we strive to offer the best ingredients in all of our dishes, everyday. This customer had never tried Peruvian Food before, and was delighted with his meal. We love sharing Peruvian cuisine with our American customers for the first time. We also love hearing from our customers, and seeing the reviews online. If you ever have a comment or suggestion, e-mail us through the contact form on this website. We would love to hear from you!

Internationally renowned Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio was recently quoted as saying, “Ají amarillo would be enough to set up a Peruvian restaurant anywhere on the planet.” Of course, we’ve known for years that authentic Peruvian food can be made anywhere with the right ingredients. Aji amarillo is a native Peruvian yellow chile pepper, and although it is not available fresh in the US, imported aji amarillo pastes like Mama Tina’s allow Peruvian restaurants in America to provide the authentic taste that makes Peruvian food so unique and wonderful. Acurio’s quote comes from the OnMadrid newspaper section in a major Spanish newspaper that was recently devoted to praising Peruvian food and its growing popularity around the world. The article also discusses ceviche, predicting that it will follow dishes like pasta, tacos and sushi to become an internationalized dish. We’re proud to see Peruvian food recognized in major newspapers around the globe, and love to educate our customers about this wonderful cuisine.

The diversity of both plants and animals in Peru is among the most impressive in the entire world, and its potato population is no different. In fact, over 4,000 kinds of potatoes of all shapes, colors and sizes are native to Peru, making them a staple in Peruvians’ diets.  However, Peruvian potato farmers say some of their crops are now at risk due to climate changes in the Cusco area. So the recently established Potato Park, which aims to unite local farmers and educate tourists about Peruvian potatoes and culture, is trying to fight the problem before it gets serious. They are sending samples of 1,500 different potatoes to the Svalbard International Seed Vault in the Arctic Circle, where they will be stored as back-ups in the event that certain kinds of potatoes are wiped out in Peru. Potatoes are considered to be the world’s most important non-cereal crop, and keeping these samples stored in a place where they will remain frozen ensures that they will be available if needed in the future. We’re glad to know that this impressive array of potatoes will be protected for future generations, since these crops are often at the heart of traditional Peruvian food.