South American Recipes
44 recipes found
Popcorn Masa for Empanadas
Grinding boiled popcorn kernels in a wet mill or food processor produces a masa with much better flavor and texture than you can get with precooked cornmeal (masarepa). I use a Victoria-brand cast-iron mill, produced in Colombia, which costs about $50 online. This popcorn masa, a technique taught to me by the chef Carlos Gaviria, a scholar of regional Colombian cooking at the University of La Sabana, forms the crust for these Colombian Beef and Potato Empanadas.
Chivito Steak Sandwich
The chivito, a little steak sandwich that serves as one of Uruguay’s culinary calling cards, makes for a fine afternoon of lunching, or an easy outdoor dinner. Pound out the beef — rib-eye or shell steak, tenderloin or flat-iron — then put it on a hot grill. It cooks fast. Then assemble: a small kaiser or Portuguese roll, with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise, some cheese and a slice of hard-cooked egg. Roasted peppers and grilled onions are welcome additions, and a spoonful of chimichurri salsa, freshly chopped, takes it over the top, but nicely. Figure on one or two per person. A nap can follow.
Colombian Beef and Potato Empanadas
Colombian empanadas are typically quite small — a couple of bites each — and have a crisp corn crust. There are a wide range of fillings you’ll find across Colombia, but this meat-and-potato mixture is the most common. Small yellow potatoes called papas criollas are the potato of choice here, but they are nearly impossible to find in the United States, so I use Yukon Gold instead. My wife’s family typically keeps the seasonings simple — salt, pepper and a dash of paprika — though many recipes include cumin or Triguisar, a powdered seasoning mix that contains ground cumin, paprika, achiote, turmeric and garlic. I season my filling with a little chicken bouillon, but you could use plain salt instead. The filling uses half an onion and half a tomato, so save the other half for the fresh, cilantro-based ají, to serve with the empanadas.
Ají (Colombian-Style Fresh Salsa)
Colombian food is typically not spicy on its own. Instead, a hot sauce called ají — also the Colombian word for chiles — is served tableside. There are as many types of ají as there are regions in Colombia, but this version, heavy on cilantro and onions, is a good all-purpose sauce that goes especially well with fried foods. Many ají recipes include some white vinegar or lime juice. I prefer using plain water to dilute mine, and I serve lime wedges on the side for diners to add at their discretion. This recipe uses half an onion and half a tomato; use the other half for empanadas.
Warm Potatoes With Cheese Sauce
Ragu of Tuna and Thyme
Aromatic Fish Stock
Panqueque
Nifty (Dulce de Leche Semi-frío)
Smoky Chimichurri
You'll need a medium-hot charcoal fire to make this Argentine sauce. Either start cooking when your main grilled item comes off the fire or, if making this sauce separately, light a charcoal fire in your grill, putting all the coals on one side, and wait until it has died down to medium. Remove some or all of the pith and seeds from the jalapeños if you prefer a milder sauce. This relish is particularly good with beef.
Peruvian Black Sea Bass Tiradito
Causa With Shrimp and Avocado
A causa is layered potato terrine that is popular in Peru. For this recipe, avocado and shrimp salads are stacked on a base of spicy mashed potatoes. Each layer is simple to make and, together, they add up to an impressive appetizer. You'll need a ring mold about 3 1/4 inches in diameter and about 2 inches in height to shape the causa. Many Peruvians improvise with clean cans of similar dimensions, removing both ends first. Use a soup or bean can, which tend to be a little less than 3 inches in diameter.
Peruvian Cheesy Potato Soup With Spicy Herb Sauce
Chuño, a small bright-white dried potato, adds a slightly earthy taste and chewy texture to this soup. If you cannot find chuños (they look like white pebbles), you can substitute russet potatoes, as detailed in the note here. In Peru, this soup is served with the chile-herb sauce called uchucuta, which adds sour and spicy notes to the broth.
Ceviche à la Minute
This recipe is from Javier Wong, the owner of Chez Wong, a lunch-only restaurant that he runs from his home in Lima, Peru. His recipe is one of astonishingly pared-down simplicity and speed. He demonstrated it on a recent trip to New York, filleting a seven-pound fluke he had bought that morning in Chinatown, mixing ingredients and setting the finished dish out on a platter at Raymi, a Peruvian restaurant in Chelsea. The entire process took all of five minutes. That’s not counting slicing onions and squeezing lime juice; he had helpers for that. So at home you may have to allocate a mighty 10 minutes. “Over the years, it’s become simpler and simpler,” he said. “If I could leave off another ingredient I would.” It’s important to serve it just as soon as it’s ready.
Colombian Corn and Cheese Arepas
Fried Cakes: Arepas
Chimichurri Salsa
Peruvian Pork Stew With Chiles, Lime and Apples
Spicy and sweet, this Peruvian stew is rich with apples and onions and scented with chiles, lime and cloves. It’s not at all difficult to make, and it takes less time than you would think, about two hours from start to finish. As you brown the pork on all sides in a pot, sauté the onions and apples with the chiles, bay leaves and cloves in another. Combine everything and braise until the pork is very tender and falling apart. If you’d like to make it in a slow cooker, put everything into the crock after browning and sautéing and turn the cooker on high. It will be ready in four to six hours.
Colombian-Style Chicken, Short Rib and Potato Stew
