I love to try new things and I am especially excited when that involves seeking out new places to discover unique ingredients. So when this Peruvian dish Seco de cordero con frejoles was suggested over at the fantastic blog of Lateral Eating I just had to try it.
Firstly we had a trip to Fairfield to the little shop Tierras Latinas that specialises in south american ingredients. It was a fantastic store jammed full of interesting looking items and buzzing with spanish, and although we like to think we know a little spanish they did speak perfect english. We bought a bottle of chicha de jora, a fermented maize beverage and some aji amarillo, ground yellow pepper.
It is quite a simple dish to prepare. The lamb is marinated for eight hours in the chicha and dark ale. The base of the stew is red onion, garlic and aji amirillo. Grated pumpkin and chopped tomatoes are added, and the coriander is blended with some of the marinated ingredients. In goes the drained meat with a little stock and then simmer covered until tender. At the end, season to taste and add some peas (I forgot).
For the bean dish simply fry some red onion, aji amarillo and garlic over low heat for about ten minutes before adding the beans and seasoning to heat through (I used tinned Borlotti beans).
What a delicious dish! Its hard to explain the flavour as I have never eaten anything with the same taste. It was surprisingly light and had a very gentle sweetness. The beans were amazing and went so well with the stew.http://lateraleating.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/recipe-seco-de-cordero-con-frejoles-lamb-coriander-stew-and-beans/
oh this sounds positively delightful!
ReplyDeleteWow - you sure are trying lots of new things lately!!! Very impressive
ReplyDeleteSo glad you tried and liked it! :)
ReplyDeleteOooh... I find the grated pumpkin very intriguing. Yum.
ReplyDeleteI have never eaten anything like this either but LOVE the sound and look of it!!! Also, thank you SOOOO much for the tip on the shop... I'd love to go check it out!
ReplyDeleteAh, stew! One of my favourite words during winter. I've never tried one like this, it looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteThis lookslovely, especially with the addition of two of my favourite things: beans and coriander. Now that I have my casserole, I might try this :-)
ReplyDeletePerfect winter comfort food!
ReplyDeleteThis dish makes me happy! I love going on a little journey of discovery and then creating something pleasurable from it :)
ReplyDeleteI like lamb and this recipe looks great! I'll just have to find a specialty store for the marinade ingredients!Thank you for always posting intriguing recipes!:)
ReplyDeleteI've really enjoyed the Peruvian food that I've tried but I've never really made it at home. Good on you for making this! :D
ReplyDeleteYum!! Another great dish. I love any kind of stew.
ReplyDeleteFermented maize drink - that is definitely something I've never heard of! It's definitely corn-hued though.
ReplyDeleteThis looks wonderful. It has been awhile since I last had any lamb!
ReplyDeleteWow, what does that fermented maize drink taste like by itself? I love beans, this would be a great way to incorperate them in my diet more :)
ReplyDeleteI've never explored Peruvian cooking before, but this looks great.Our local asian grocer has some South American ingredients too, I'll ask them to order this maize drink in. Thanks for introducing a new concept to me.
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