Encona Peruvian Cookery Blogger Event @ Cactus Kitchens
I was recently asked along to a Peruvian cookery event at Cactus Kitchens in Clapham featuring Peruvian chef Julio Brujis and sponsored by Encona sauces. Julio has a firm called Panka which sells Peruvian Foods at markets and caters for events but today he was teaching a hungry band of bloggers to create a ceviche, the classic dish of raw fish ‘cooked’ in citrus and a prawn rissoto made with the on-trend Andean grain quinoa.
Encona, which is a 40 year old UK brand, has just developed a new range of global sauces including Moroccan Harissa, Korean BBQ and Jamaican Jerk marinades, but today we were cooking with a fruity Peruvian Amarillo yellow chilli sauce.
Julio explained a little about the heritage of Peruvian cuisine with its influences ranging from the pre-Incan to the Spanish/Moorish and then from later waves of immigrants from Japan, China and Italy. The ‘New Wave’ of Peruvian gastronomy is centred around traditional Andean cooking reworked for the present but our first dish was a combination of pre-Incan and Japanese food cultures- a Ceviche “Aji Amarillo” style
Ingredients:
150 grams white fish fillets
5 limes
1 tbsp Encona Peruvian Amarillo Chilli Sauce
1/2 tsp grated garlic
½ tsp grated ginger
½ red onion finely sliced
¼ Peruvian “choclo corn” cooked
½ sliced red chilli
1 tbs. chopped coriander
Salt to taste
1 ice cube
Method
Dice the fish in cubes of about 2 cm.
Put the fish in a bowl with the onion and rinse together with cold water.
Add the salt, garlic, ginger, chilli, chilli sauce, choclo corn and coriander.
Squeeze the limes over the fish mixture, add the ice cube and mix well with both hands.
Take the ice cube away and serve.
The dish was really straightforward to make and the Encona sauce gave it a sweet heat which was unexpected. It was pretty delicious! and then
Prawn Quinotto-a take on a prawn risotto using quinoa.
Ingredients
10 raw king prawns
½ chopped onion
1 chopped garlic clove
2 tbsp Encona Peruvian Amarillo Chilli sauce
½ diced red pepper
½ diced courgette
1 diced tomato
½ cup cooked quinoa
1/3 cup vegetable stock
Olive oil
Chopped Parsley
Salt
Pepper
Method
Fry the onion in olive oil, after a couple of minutes add the garlic, then the red pepper and courgette.
Add the Encona Peruvian Amarillo Chilli sauce, the tomatoes and then the quinoa. Stir and add the vegetable stock.
Simmer for a minute, then add the prawns and cook until ready.
Add salt and pepper to taste and some of the chopped parsley, serve. Add a splash of olive oil and parsley to garnish.
Both dishes were full of flavour and tasted really authentic. So thanks to Encona, Julio and the people at Cactus for a great event.
Learn more about Peruvian cookery with Phaidon Press’ Peru: The Cookbook by Gastón AcurioLearn more about Encona Sauces at
http://www.enconasauces.co.uk
For South American produce go to
http://solandinomarket.co.uk
For Julio Brujis’ Panka http://www.panka.co.uk
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