Salsa de Ajo

Salsa de Ajo is very easy to make and very addictive. This time I made this garlic sauce using store bought mayonnaise, but you can use homemade mayonnaise as well, if you prefer. Good with Yuca Fries- Yuca Frita (Fried Cassava) Recipe Below

Ingredients

• 1 cup of vegan mayonnaise
• 5 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt or to your taste
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Directions

1. Blend all the ingredients until well blended.
2. Taste and add more salt if necessary.

Yuca Frita (Fried Cassava)

• 2 Lb fresh or frozen yuca (cassava)
• Vegetable oil
• ½ tablespoon salt

Directions

1. In a large pot cover the yuca with water, add salt and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium low and cook about 15 to 20 minutes or until is tender.
2. Remove the yuca from the water and pat dry with paper towels. Cut the cooked yuca into ½ – inch strips.
3. Fill a large frying pan with enough vegetable oil to 350° F. When the oil is hot, place the yuca into the heated oil carefully. Fry them until golden brown on both sides about 6 to 8 minutes.
4. Remove the yuca pieces from the oil using a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and serve.

Sopa Seca: Peruvian Pasta Bake [Vegan, Gluten-Free]

SERVES

4-6

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing
• 1 pound and 2 ounces of angel hair pasta, broken into 4-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 onions, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• 4 chipotles in adobo
• 1 pound and 5 ounces canned whole tomatoes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cilantro
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 2 cups vegan chicken stock
• 14 ounces canned black beans (or whatever beans you have)
• Cilantro cashew sour cream, to serve
• Handful chopped cilantro leaves, to serve

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 340°F. Lightly grease a 12×8 inch ovenproof dish with olive oil.
2. Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
3. Add the pasta and fry for 2–3 minutes until golden brown. Drain on paper towel.
4. Place the onion, garlic, chipotles, tomatoes, ground cilantro, and oregano in a blender and process until smooth. Transfer the sauce to a pan with the bay leaves and cook over medium heat for approximately 10 minutes or until thickened.
5. Stir in the stock, fried pasta, and beans. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, breaking up the pasta with a spoon, for about 5 minutes.
7. Remove the bay leaves, then transfer the mixture to the prepared ovenproof dish and cover loosely with foil. Bake for about 20 minutes, until most of the liquid has been absorbed.
8. Serve, drizzled with cilantro cashew sour cream and cilantro leaves scattered over the top.

Peruvian-style vegan cilantro, seitan and potato stew

This stew is not one for the cilantro haters, since the flavor of that divisive herb permeates the whole dish.

Don’t skip the salsa criolla with which this dish is intended to be served. The onions soak in salt water and then “cook” in lime juice and vinegar, so they’re not a total make out-spoiler.

Ingredients

• 1 bunch cilantro (chop off the stems)
• 1 jalapeno, deseeded (maybe even 1/2 a jalapeno)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
• juice of two small limes
• 8 ounces seitan
• 1 large potato, sliced into 1/2″ thick pieces
• 1 cup frozen peas and carrots

Instructions:

1. Blend cilantro, water, garlic, jalapeno and lime juice; pour into a small saucepan with potatoes, seitan, and frozen pea/carrot mix.
2. Simmer for around 30 minutes or until potatoes are cooked.

Serve with rice and Salsa criolla.   Recipe below

What You'll Need

• 2 red onions (sliced in very thin half moons)
• 1 to 2 ají or jalapeño peppers (seeded and sliced into very thin matchsticks, to taste)
• 1 tablespoon cilantro (chopped fresh, or parsley, or a combination of both)
• 2 tablespoons lime juice (freshly squeezed)
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste

How to Make It

1. Soak the thinly sliced onions in salt water for 10 minutes. Drain and let dry.
2. Mix the sliced onion with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let the salsa marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
3. Store salsa in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Tacu Tacu

Not only is Tacu Tacu delicious but it is also very nutritious. Like most Peruvian recipes there are a number of variations to Tacu Tacu, but the basic premise is the same. It is often used as a side dish for a meat dish such as fish or chicken. It is even common for people to serve it with salad on top. This is a great recipe to experiment and have fun with.

References:

• Servings – 2
• Prep time – 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of beans that seasoned with sofrito. (you will want to cook the beans ahead of time)
• ½ cup of white rice (prepare rice by steaming it/should be cooked ahead of time)
• 2 tablespoons of canola oil
• ¼ cup of yellow onion (prepare onion by mincing)
• ¼ teaspoon of aji amarillo paste.  found mines on amazon
• 1 garlic clove (prepare by mincing)

Preparation:

• Place the cooked beans in a bowl and mash them using a fork. Add the steamed white rice to the bowl and mix both the beans and rice using your hands.
• In a pan over medium heat sauté the minced garlic and onion along with the aji amarillo and 1 tablespoon of canola oil. Saute until the onion is translucent.
• Add the contents from the pan to the bowl that has the beans and rice in them. Mix all the contents very well together.
• Shape the mixture into two separate pancakes of equal size.
• Using a non-stick pan and 1 tablespoon of canola oil brown the pancakes, Brown on both sides (roughly 2 minutes per side)
• Serve the pancakes on a plate with just a very small amount of olive oil on top.

Peruvian Roasted Seitan

Usually made with chicken ...turned the bad boy Vegan because I love this recipe

INGREDIENTS

4 steak sized pieces of Seitan

4 tbsp white vinegar

3 tbsp white wine

3 tbsp canola oil

21/2 tbsp garlic powder

2 tbsp paprika

11/2 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

1. Combine the seasoning ingredients. Mix well, forming a paste.  Make sure your Seitan has patted dry before you add the  paste.  Place the Seitan in a bowl.

2. Rub the spice paste over the Seitan, covering every surface so that the flavor infuses into the seaitan. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but no more than 24.

3. Preheat the oven to 325º and remove the Seitan from the fridge. Wipe off any excess marinade and place in a oven safe pan.  

4. Arrange Seitan in a single layer on a large parchment paper-lined baking sheet bake   flipping halfway through, until golden brown and just crisp, about 40 to 60 minutes total.

For Seitan I use this recipe to make chicken flavored seitan

Ingredients

1. 1.5 cups cold chick'n or vegetable broth (or water and bouillon cube) Vegan of course
2. 2 tablespoons olive oil
3. 1.5 cups vital wheat gluten flour
4. 1/4 cup chickpea flour
5. 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
6. 1 teaspoon garlic powder
7. 1.5 teaspoons poultry or chicken seasoning
8. 1/2 teaspoon paprika
9. 1/2 teaspoon cumin
10. 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
11. 1/2 to 1 tablespoon sea salt (I used a full tablespoon, but I love salt. Some people have found it to be a bit much)
12. Aluminum foil

Instructions

1. Wisk together broth and olive oil, and set aside.
2. In a large bowl stir together all the remaining ingredients. Once they're completely combined, create a well in the center, then pour in the broth mix
3. Stir with a rubber spatula until the entire mixture pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Now it's time to knead!
4. Knead the dough for 2-3 minutes. Your hands may get tired but this step is crucial to develop the gluten. You'll actually be able to see the dough's consistency change, it's pretty cool! You can knead in the same bowl, or you can move it to a cutting board (you'll have to do that later anyway). Keep in mind as you're kneading that you're going to be cutting it into 4 loaves, so working it into a square/rectangle is better than a roundish lump.
5. Let it rest for about 10 minutes, then knead for another 30 seconds. This is your last chance to get it into a workable shape for cutting. Move to the cutting board if you haven't already, and slice into 4 equal sized loaves.
6. From your box of aluminum foil, tear off 4 pieces, each about 6 inches wide. Wrap each piece of seitan by folding the long edges, and then the short edges. You want the loaf to be completely covered, but with room to expand, so don't make it too tight.
7. Steam for 30 minutes. If you don't have a steamer, you can use my ghetto-fabulous method. I fill a pot with about an inch of water, and heat it to boiling. I put the foil-wrapped loaves into a metal colander, which I place into the pan (make sure the water level is lower than the loaves themselves, you don't want them to get wet) and cover. If you're using my method, and the loaves are at all stacked, you should switch them around about halfway through.
8. Remove from the steamer and let cool for 30 minutes or so before putting it in the fridge for at least an hour. Then you can wrap in plastic wrap or zippie bags.

Notes

1. Makes 4 loaves, each of which makes about 2 servings. Wrapped tightly, it'll last in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Freeze it, and it'll last for months.
2. Please don't try my steaming-in-the-colander method unless your colander is metal!

Yucca Fries with Peruvian Aji

Ingredients

Yucca Fries
• 1 1/2 pounds yucca root, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• Vegetable oil
• Sea salt

Peruvian Salsa Aji

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Ingredients

• 3 Jalapeño (or Serrano) peppers, diced
  • We removed the seeds from two to calm down the kick just a bit.
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/3 to ½ cup Earth Balance mayo
• 2 tbsp oil
• 4 tbsp lime juice
• ¼ head Romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 cup cilantro
• 3 green onions,
• 1 tsp salt

1. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil; add the yucca matchsticks and allow to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and allow to air dry thoroughly.
2. While the yucca is drying, let's make the aji. Crazy easy: just blend all the ingredients together in a blender or food processor until they’re combined. Scrape down the sides every so often. If needed, you can add a couple of tablespoons of water if you like the sauce a little thinner. 
3. In a medium saucepan, add about 1/2-inch of vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, add the yucca fries (you may have to fry these up in batches). Fry the yucca on both sides for 1 to 2 minutes each. Transfer to a bed of paper towels and place them in a warm oven, while you continue to fry up the remaining yucca. Sprinkle the yucca fries with a bit of salt and a sprinkling of cilantro. Serve alongside the Peruvian aji.