Food is cheap in Lima, but quality food is not. So I finally got cooking to both save money and eat better. It’s comforting to know exactly what I’m putting in my body instead of wondering if I’ll be okay if I eat something at a restaurant.
There’s a fish called “paiche” – river trout from the Amazon – and there’s a sauce made with huacatay (black mint sauce that usually also has cheese, milk, fresh chili pepper and tomalito – a fleshy, sweet-and-sour jungle tomato). These don’t traditionally go together, but I tried to cram as many culinary traditions into one meal as possible. The huacatay sauce doubled as a great sauce for the fish. Kind of like a thick, mildly spicy sorrel sauce. And the potatoes here (in this case yellow ones) have tons of flavour. Real flavour. Do your potatoes have flavour? Probably not. Yukon golds? Russets? Even fingerlings. Not much.
Oh, and avocado is amazing here. Actual flavour too becauase they’re not shipped a continent away before they ripen.
The cherry tomatoes were organic from the Bioferia organic market. So sweet and perfect. And the rice Peruvian definitely believes in double carbs) is brown rice with cilantro stems and coca leaves that I thought were bay leaves for the first few weeks of my trip. Not bay leaves, it turns out. But coca tea is weak, so besides passing out almost immediately after dinner, I don’t think they had any effect.
Paiche is also one of the cheaper fish at the market. Seafood is not cheap in Lima. It’s a mild flavour and a firm flesh. Go with snapper, halibut, or the more expensive white-fleshed fish if you have the money.
Here’s what I did:
Seared Amazonian Paiche Fish with Huacatay Sauce, Yellow Potatoes, Coca Leaf Rice, Cherry Tomatoes and Avocado
Serves 4
1/2 kg Paiche fillets, skin and vertebrae removed (or other firm-fleshed white fish)
salt and pepper
1 tbsp oil
4 large yellow potatoes
1/2 avocado, sliced
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Huacatay Sauce
1/2 bunch huacatay, black mint or regular mint, leaves and tender stems only, chopped just enough to make them blend
2 red jungle tomalitos (or tomatillos, or regular tomatoes, blanched and excess liquid drained)
1 aji amarillo yellow chili pepper (or other fleshy mild chili pepper), seeded and de-stemmed
1/3 cup queso fresco (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil (or other oil)
juice of 1 lime, to taste
1/4 tsp salt
Coca Leaf Rice (or rice with bay leaves)
1 cup brown rice
Stems of 1/2 bunch of huacatay used above, chopped finely (or 1/2 – 1 cup cilantro stems)
3 coca leaves of bay leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1 small onion, diced
2 1/2 cups water
Boil the potatoes whole. Drain, peel. Keep warm. Or keep them unpeeled and peel just before serving. I just leave them in the water until I’m almost ready to eat.
Boil the tomalito for 2-4 minutes, until the skins break. Let cool slightly then peel. Place pulp in blender with remaining huacatay sauce ingredients. Blend. Transfer to serving bowl.
Rinse rice until no longer cloudy in running water, or swirl in pot and drain. Add more water, swirl, drain. Repeat. Repeat.
Add remaining rice ingredients to pot. Bring rice to boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook 25 minutes until the rice is tender.
Season trout with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large skillet over high heat. Add fish without crowding pan. Do not reduce heat. Breathe. Wait 2 minutes. In fact, peel the potatoes while you’re waiting. Slice into 1/2″ pieces and place on plates with a scoop of rice, some cherry tomatoes and avocado sliced. Do set the timer for 2 minutes, though.
Flip fish over, reduce heat to medium low, cover skillet, and cook 5 minutes or until fish is cooked through. It should be opaque and flake easily. Or just before the flaking stage. Serve on top of the rice. Top the potatoes with huacatay sauce. Keep extra sauce on the side to top the trout if you want. Serve with slices of lime if you want.
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