“How do I know it’s a hen?”, I asked. Because of the eggs, replied my trusted chicken lady at the Magdalena Market. Sure enough, the hen had small orange balls that looked like eggs. And that’s how I knew it was a hen. Now that the winter has come to Lima and our sky looks as grey as a donkey’s belly – which is how like to call a gray sky – we are hungry for things to keep us warm. So today we are going to make Peruvian style hen soup. Español aquí.
This week promises to be excellent and even more so because it comes with Father’s Day. I am blessed to have a very special father that I look up to so we have a lot to celebrate too. I won’t bore you with my sappy stories, but I will smile remembering them. I hope you can have a warm time with your loved ones and I send you much love.
Ingredients 1 kilo of hen, in pieces 1 peeled piece ginger 4-6 cups water 4-6 peeled yellow potatoes ¼ kilo thick noodles 4 hard boiled eggs ¼ cup chopped scallion (spring onion) Salt to taste
Preparation Cook the chicken for an hour in water and salt.
Add the ginger and celery.
Cook for ½ hour.
Add the potatoes and the noodles.
Cook for 15 minutes or until the noodle is ready. Beware of the potatoes overcooking.
Add the scallion to the pot before serving.
Serve with a cooked egg and a piece of hen per dish.
My patience was tested. It all started with malware, but the story about why I didn’t post on Monday will have to wait for another post. Today I’m just happy to share this recipe for my first food preparation with chicken and vegetables for five days. Obviously I could make it for more days, but can we go little by little? Español aquí.
As I shared with you, or maybe I dreamt that I did, I started working again in April and from the first day I knew that lunch would be an issue. I’m quite used to living (mostly) without rice, eating lots of vegetables. But this is not normal food in Lima. I also don’t have time to make a wholesome meal every day. Solution, make lunch in advance. I promise you it keeps well in the refrigerator. If you do not mind eating the same thing five days in a row, follow my lead.
Ingredients 1 ½ kilo of boneless chicken breast 3 large carrots, peeled and diced Zucchini or eggplant, peeled and diced Salt and pepper Olive oil
Preparation Clean and cut the chicken into medium pieces.
Salt and pepper.
Cook in water over low heat.
Set aside.
Cook the vegetables in water or steam.
Set aside.
Add to containers and let it cool.
Freeze what you will eat in two days or more, and bring down to the refrigerator what you will eat the next day to thaw.
Wouldn’t it be great if the weekend was longer than the weekdays. I sigh. Meanwhile, I’m very excited to share this week’s post for Peruvian style pork chicharrones. It can also be described as Braised and Fried Pork. However you call it, it’s a very filling breakfast we enjoy in Peru, mostly served within a bread bun and with fried slices of sweet potatoes and a sauce of onion rings bathed in lemon and salt. Español aquí.
This was the first time I made it (I made an Instagram promise). I used a pancetta pork cut and, for the video, ½ kilo of pork. Of course you can choose a leaner pork cut with less fat. I hope to try it again soon. Its very easy to make, but I didn’t label it with the “easy to make” recipes because cooking it in water took quite a long time. I can’t lie to you.
Sorry about the video quality, I hadn’t noticed the camera tilted and caught part of a furniture.. You don’t mind right? See you next time!
Ingredients 1 kg of pork, I used bacon 1 sprig of huacatay mint (optional) Water Salt
Preparation Cut the meat into medium pieces.
Salt.
Cook in water up to the surface of the meat.
Add a branch of spearmint.
Let the water be consumed.
Let it fry in the fat that is released from the meat. Add oil if desired.
Serve it in a bread bun with fried sweet potato slices and onion sauce.
Hi lovelies! I hope you are excellent! I turned 31 last week… But enough about myself because this post is dedicated to someone very special to me, my mom. I know I already shared a recipe for Peruvian style chili chicken last year. The difference with this one is that my camera is less shaky and that I’m only using one type of Peruvian chili, the yellow one which we also call green for some reason I don’t know. Español aquí.
In case you are wondering why I using less ingredients, I did it for two reasons. The first one is because my mom always made it this way. The second is to show you that you can still make it from places with less access to Peruvian ingredients and that way you don’t lose the habit of eating Peruvian. For me, the taste remains.
Before jumping into the recipe I want to wish all the beautiful moms who are visiting my blog a very happy Mother’s Day. I am very blessed to have had a mother who loves me very much and now I will enjoy Mother’s Day even more because my older sister is soon to become a mommy for the first time. I have a very beautiful family and so many reasons to be thankful. I hope you do too. Hugs for everyone!
Ingredients 1 chicken breast 1 red onion, minced 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 yellow Peruvian chili peppers, without seeds and veins, crushed with oil 4 slices of white bread or 1 ciabatta bread 2 tablespoons of walnuts, finely chopped 3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese 1 cup of milk Salt and pepper
Preparation Boil the chicken in salted water.
Let the chicken cool off.
Soak the bread in the broth from the chicken.
Pull the chicken and set it aside.
Sauté onion and garlic.
Add the Peruvian chili.
Add the soaked bread.
Incorporate the chicken.
Add the Parmesan cheese, walnuts and milk.
Cook at low heat for 10 minutes.
Garnish egg slices and serve with cooked potatoes and white rice. I recommend eating only with carb.
This week’s lifestyle post is for keeping your wallet healthy with my first DIY. Have you thought about changing your bedroom? How about using a duvet cover as an alternative to buying a new one and saving all that space your old duvet would take up in your closet? Using a cover will bring new life to your comforter with the colors and patterns that you like. I hope you enjoy! Español aquí.
Since I know they exist, I really love them. Sadly in Peru (where I am now) there are few options for getting a cover while other countries do sell them with ease. I wrote this post after making my own comforter cover, when I didn’t have a job, but I still wanted my bedroom to look nice. Sorry about the shortage of footage, but it was just really bad. I really hope these gifs can help explain.
As I always do, before getting started I browsed through Pinterest for inspiration. I enjoy minimalist designs so I opted for a white and grey colors, which I find most elegant. One side grey, one side white. For this project I covered my own feather comforter which is in good conditions, and is beige and brown colored. I got it before I knew how geese suffer when loose their feathers. Now that I know, I recommend using a synthetic filled comforter which is easier to wash.
Comforter and bed sizes are not standard and vary between countries. To know how much cloth you need measure your duvet and add some extra centimeters to the width and length. I chose my cover to be 2.30 meters wide and long.
I purchased the cloth in Lima’s Gamarra district and I asked for it as cotton cloth for sheets. I always worry that fabric will shrink in the dryer so I asked for a high percentage of cotton. The white fabric was 100% cotton and the gray fabric was 80% cotton. The total cost of this DIY was less than US$ 25, having purchased my supplies in Peruvian Soles. This included all the materials and having it sewn because I don’t own a machine.
Material and Tools 2 pieces of fabric measuring at least 2.36 x 2.36 m wide and long each – I purchased 2.5 meters of cloth Buttons or a zipper – I used 4 buttons of 2 cm. Lace (for the eyelets) Measuring tape Pins Needle Thread, in the fabric color Sewing machine – I took this to be sewn
Instructions Place the fabric over each other, over a smooth surface.
Mark a square 2.30 meter square and a 3 cm margin surrounding it with pins
Baste the 2.30 m square to facilitate sewing.
Leave an unsewn 80 cm space to the center of one side. This is where we will insert the duvet.
Cut the excess fabric of the 3 cm margin.
Sew over the basted 2.30 m square and overlock the ends.
Fold over the fabric of the open space, and sew it separately. I sewed it by hand with an “invisible” stitch.
Sew the buttons on one side of the open space and add lace eyelets on the other side. I also sewed this by hand, folding the lace like bunny ears.
