Cultura
Chinese Peruvian Food: What Tusán Cooking Actually Means
Chifa is the restaurant. Chinese Peruvian food is bigger than that — it is the sillao on the table, the family recipe with no carta to speak of.
Cada semana, de la casa
El Blog
Stories from the chifa tradition, recipes tested in our kitchen, and the Peruvian despensa explained. Every week.
Recetas
Ají de Gallina Recipe: The Creamy Chicken Peru Undersells
The real ají de gallina recipe: shredded chicken in a bread-and-ají amarillo sauce that isn't spicy, isn't a saltado, and won't pick your family's nut for you.
La Despensa
Ají Panca: Peru's Dark Red Chili That Barely Burns
Ají panca looks like it should hurt and barely does. Peru's great dried chili: what it tastes like, the dishes it holds up, and how to buy it in the US.
Cultura
Chifa Menu Dishes: How to Read the Carta and What to Order
The carta at almost every chifa runs the same. Here are the chifa menu dishes top to bottom, sopa wantán to aeropuerto, and what to order first.
La Despensa
What Is Huacatay? Peru's Black Mint That Isn't a Mint
What is huacatay? The Andean herb behind ocopa and Peru's green cremas. It goes by black mint, but it's a marigold, which is why spearmint won't save you.
Recetas
Ají Verde Recipe: The Green Sauce Pollerías Actually Make
The real ají verde recipe runs on ají amarillo and huacatay, not jalapeño and cilantro. Here's the Lima pollería version, tested in our kitchen.
Cultura
Calle Capón, Lima: The Street Our Casa Is Named For
Calle Capón, the heart of Lima's Barrio Chino, gave Peru chifa, lomo saltado, and our name. This is the one-block street's history, told properly.
La Despensa
Ají Amarillo Substitute: Every Option, Ranked Honestly
The best ají amarillo substitute is ají amarillo in another form: paste, frozen, or dried mirasol. Everything after that is a compromise, ranked honestly.
Recetas
Salsa criolla recipe: five minutes, fixes everything
Red onion, ají limo, lime, and five minutes: the real Peruvian salsa criolla recipe, with the feather cut, the iced-water soak, and everything it belongs on.
La Despensa
What Is Lomo Saltado? The Peruvian Stir-Fry Born in a Chinese Wok
Beef, red onion, tomato, ají, soy sauce, vinegar. Rice AND fries. Here's what lomo saltado actually is, and why it tastes like Peru.
Cultura
Why every Peruvian town has a chifa (the whole story)
Why are Peruvian Chinese restaurants everywhere? How a Cantonese migration and one street in Lima turned chifa into the most ordinary restaurant in Peru.
La Despensa
Ají amarillo: the pepper that makes Peru taste like Peru
Bright, fruity, and warm rather than truly hot, ají amarillo is the orange chili behind half of Peru. What it is, how it tastes, and where to buy it.
Recetas
Arroz chaufa recipe: what leftover rice dreams of becoming
A tested arroz chaufa recipe: Peruvian fried rice the chifa way, with day-old rice, sillao, kion, and the hottest flame you own. The weeknight dish of our casa.
Cultura
What is chifa? The Chinese-Peruvian kitchen that raised us
Chifa is what happened when Cantonese cooks met Peruvian fire. Here is the story of the cuisine behind lomo saltado, and the street our casa is named for.