Tres Leches Cake

Are you a big fan of dessert? How about cake? How about cake infused with a delicious three-milk mixture? I don't know about you but I am a big dessert fan and while I was in Peru Tres Leches was one such dessert that rocked my world! As you read through and try out this recipe I hope you too enjoy the savory taste of Tres Leches!

In order to make this delicious dessert you will need a mixer, measuring cups, mixing bowl, a round 8 inch baking pan, a deep-dish round pan (larger than 8 inches), and a sifter for the flour. Along with the above materials you will also need the following ingredients:

Cake Ingredients

• 1/4 cup milk
• Pinch of salt
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour 
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Three Milk Mixture

• 1 cup condensed milk
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream

1. Start off by combining the flour and baking powder and sift the two together 3 times. 

2. Next separate your eggs and whip the whites together with a pinch of salt. Gradually add the sugar once eggs are well whipped. Follow the sugar with the egg yokes, adding them in one at a time with sufficient mixing between the two. 

3. Continue by mixing 1/3 of a cup of flour into the mixture followed by the milk and vanilla and beat the mixture while gradually adding the remaining flour. 

4. Pour mixture into a greased round cake pan and bake for about 30 minutes or until lightly brown at 325 degrees fahrenheit. 

5. While your cake is baking mix together the three milks and then let them chill in the refrigerator until your cake is done and cooled. 

6. Once your cake is done and out of the oven let it cool before removing the cake from the pan and place the cake in a deep dish pan that is larger than the cake. Proceed to poke holes all throughout the top of the cake with a toothpick or fork. 

7. Next spoon the milk mixture onto the cake and let it soak in until you have poured the whole mixture on the cake. Once all the milk has been poured on the cake put it into the refrigerator and let it chill.

8. If you would like you can top your cake off with a fresh whipping cream and cinnamon. (pictured above)

After your cake has chilled and soaked up the milk mixture go ahead and serve this delicious dessert to all your friends and family and watch their faces light up with satisfaction! Also if you enjoyed this recipe please comment below and share this link with your friends and family! If you do make this recipe please share a photo of your cake on the Culinary Arts Abroad Facebook page as well! Happy baking to you all! 

Arroz con Pollo: Chicken with Rice

Arroz con Pollo or Chicken with Rice is a traditional spanish dish that is eaten in many Latin American countries. While there is a dispute on where the recipe came from Puerto Rico or Spain, there is a pretty strong feeling that the history goes back to the Moorish times in Spain in the 8th century. Since this time Arroz con Pollo has become a popular dish in countries such as Puerto Rico, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Cuba, Costa Rica, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic. To look more into the history of the dish check out this page. 

To prepare Arroz con Pollo you will need a large stew pot, a blender, a rice cooker, and the following ingredients:

• 2 tbs. vegetable oil 
• 1 medium red onion minced 
• 1 tbs. garlic paste or one garlic clove minced 
• 1/2 tsp. pepepr
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. oregano 
• 1 1/2 tbs. salt
• 2 bundles of cilantro (when mixed with half a cup of water and blended it came out to be about 3-3 1/2 cups of liquid)
• 1 tbs. ají amarillo sauce 
• 10 portions of chicken 
• 4 cups of water
• 1/2 lbs. peas
• 1 carrot
• 2 husks choclo (you can also use about 2/3 cups of frozen white corn if you need, you may be able to find choclo at a local mexican grocery store)
• 1 red bell pepper
• 3 cups rice 

First make mince your onion and fry it in a large pot with 2-3 tbs. of oil for about 4 minutes on a medium to high heat. Next add in the cumin, oregano, pepper, and garlic and fry for another 2 minutes.  

 You will then need to blend the cilantro and half a cup of water together in a blender.

Once mixed add this mixture and a table spoon of ají amarillo sauce to the pot with the other ingredients and stir everything together until the liquid evaporates and you are left with something looking like the picture below.

Next you will add your chicken and mix it around for a minute or two, making sure the chicken gets well coated in the sauce. 

Then add 4 cups of water and the salt, mix, and let it cook for about 8 minutes. 

Next you will need to add your peas, carrots, and corn. Before adding the corn you will want to cut it off the husk and cut the carrots into small pieces. The type of corn we use is called choclo and it can often be found in Mexican food stores or you can use white corn as a substitute. 

After adding in the vegetables again put on the top of your pot and let it cook for another 6-8 minutes. 

Then you will need to drain the water from the chicken and vegetables to use for preparing the rice. Set the vegetables and chicken aside while you prepare the rice. 

If you have a rice cooker that is the best way to prepare the rice but if not use a pot on the stove. To prepare the rice first put 3 cups of rice in the rice cooker and then add the chicken broth liquid from the chicken mixture into the rice cooker as well. Ideally 1 cup of the 4 cups of the water added before will have now evaporated and you will have three cups of chicken broth liquid to add to the rice. With the rice and broth also dice the red pepper and add it into the rice cooker. 

Let the rice cook for the allotted time needed and once it is done add the vegetables that you had set aside, mix everything together, and let sit for about 5 minutes to warm everything up again. 

Finally serve a healthy portion of rice and a portion of chicken on each plate and enjoy! 

Overall I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope you try this recipe out yourself! If you do enjoy what you see please help by sharing it with other people. There is a Facebook page where you can follow along by clicking on the Facebook button on the righthand side of this page and you can also follow this blog as well. Also if you are an avid Pinterest user than please "Pin It" and share this recipe with other food lovers! And if anyone does prepare this dish readers love to read comments about how it went so please leave a comment here on the blog and post a picture of your final dish on the Facebook page. Happy Cooking! 

Tallarines Verdes: Green Pesto Noodles

Today before I share with you a new recipe I just want to point out a few things I have noticed lately about peruvian cuisine. First off Peru has one of the most expansive varieties of foods ranging from typical rice dishes to noodle dishes to the very popular Chinese dishes. One of the reasons why Peru has such a diverse selection of foods is because it has a diverse geographical layout, with different foods growing in all the different environments. Furthermore Peru has had a fair number of immigrants crossing their boarders in the past few hundred years, thus further explaining the influx in cross-cultural cuisine. Today I will be teaching you how to make Tallarines Verdes, also known as Green Pesto Noodles. While pretty much every Peruvian dish contains rice, this is one of the only ones that is focused on noodles, because it comes from an Italian background. 

While at school at Washington State University I live in a house with 8 really close guy friends. We are all very active within the school, our church and many other things so we often get stuck in a diet of chicken and spaghetti, although some people choose to run to McDonald's or go to Little Caesar's Pizza for a $5 Hot-N-Ready. Since we often get stuck in that spaghetti diet I figured this would be an excellent recipe to share because it is quick, easy, and adds a new flavor to the sometimes boring college spaghetti diet. The final thing I have realized lately about peruvian food is that they often throw a fried or boiled egg on top of everything, whether it be this noodle dish, a beef, rice and potato dish, or even mixed vegetable salads. Don't ask me why they do this, because I have yet to figure that out, but if you have a good prediction or want to humor me with your own ideas behind the egg phenomena, please share your thoughts in a comment below! 

For this dish all you will need is a blender, sauce pan, pot to boil noodles, and the following ingredients: 

• 2 cups spinach leaves
• 1 cup basil leaves
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup queso fresco or queso blanco or farmer's cheese (Mild feta cheese can be used as well but you may need to adjust the salt at the end) 
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. oregano 
• 1/2 cup ground parmesan 
• 2 lbs. spaghetti noodles 
• 1/4 cup pecans 
• 1 small red onion
• 1 tbs. garlic paste (or one minced clove of garlic)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg for each plate
• vegetable oil to fry eggs

Before preparing your sauce follow the directions to start preparing your spaghetti noodles. After starting to prepare your noodles start off by washing your spinach and basil leaves and add them into the blender along with 1/2 cup of evaporated milk. Mix these ingredients for about 1 minute and then add the queso fresco and continue blending for another 30 seconds. Next season your mixture with the nutmeg, oregano, and then add salt and pepper to taste. Next you will need to dice the onion and put the onion and garlic in a sauce pan with oil on medium heat till the onion is translucent (The garlic and onion aren't always used when preparing this dish but Lucy prefers to use it so we are adding it on our recipe, if you prefer to make it without that is okay too). After onion mixture is ready add the sauce from the blender into a saucepan over low heat, also add the parmesan cheese and the rest of the milk until the sauce boils. Once your sauce is boiling remove from heat and mix it with your spaghetti noodles after you have drained the water from them. If you so choose, varnish your dish with crushed pecans and a bit more parmesan cheese (the pecans can also be added in the blender if you prefer). Finally fry an egg to go along with each plate of food. 

If you want to add some meat to the dish, chicken or steak are a great way to infuse some protein and  add extra nutrients into the dish! 

I hope you will enjoy trying out this recipe and thus learn another traditional peruvian dish! If you do prepare this dish please leave a comment below along with sharing a picture on the Culinary Arts Abroad Facebook page! Also if you have enjoyed this post please post it to your Facebook, Tweet it, Pin It to Pinterest, and post it on any other social media outlet you use. Thanks again and be sure to follow the blog so you can return later for further posts!

Ají Amarillo: Peruvian Hot Sauce

Raw ají amarillo peppers

Adding in the oregano, pepper, and cumin

Time to remove from heat

Adding a bit of water and salt before mixing

The Amazing Lucy finishing off the Ají Sauce

Bon appetite

Today marks the first recipe shared on the blog! I have to say after the launch of the site yesterday I was pretty happy to see that within 24 hours there were over 140 views from 19 countries, thanks to everyone who was a part of that first day! That aside we are now going to look at how to make ají amarillo, a typical Peruvian hot sauce. Since my first day in Lima I have been in love with this salsa and I put it on almost everything! If you are a spicy food lover this will definitely be a recipe you will need to try!

Ají is a native Peruvian pepper from the andes and many Peruvian dishes use it to add extra flavor and color. While I love to have a strong and spicy ají sauce it is not necessary to make it super hot. In a one-line description of the importance of ají in Peruvian cuisine I will share a quote from a blog I was reading that states, "Ají is the soul to Peruvian food." I don't know about you but learning how to cook with soul sounds pretty good, so why not give this recipe a try and see what happens! 

One warning is that ají is a native pepper to Peru so you will probably not find it in stores in the United States or other countries. The best bet is going to a whole-foods store and crossing your fingers that they have them. If they don't then I have read that habaneros are a good substitution for the spice lovers, serranos are also a decent substitute, or any other medium heat pepper that you enjoy. While the taste will not be exact to the Peruvian flavor I am sure the sauce will still taste delicious! After experimenting yourself please report back with your findings!

For this recipe all you will need the following:

• 6 ají amarillo (or varied amounts of your substitute to taste)
• 1 large onion
• 1 clove of garlic (or a garlic paste if you prefer)
• About 1/4 tbs. of pepper (Lucy said for pepper, cumin, and oregano it is more of seasoning to taste so you may want to change these amounts after tasting it)
• About 1/4 tbs. of cumin
• About 1/4 tbs. of oregano 
• 1 tbsp. of salt
• Enough oil to fry ingredients

First off you will need to chop up the ají peppers, onion, and garlic. If you like you can gut the seeds of the peppers and peel them in order to have a smoother sauce but at my house we don't do either. If you want to peal the peppers put them in a hot water bath first and then afterward peel off the skin. After your raw ingredients are chopped put them in a median frying pan over a medium heat with enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. After adding the ají, garlic, and onion add the pepper, oregano, and cumin as well. Continue to stir all these ingredients as they sweat in the frying pan for about 8-10 minutes in order to help bring out the flavor. The third photo above is what our ingredients looked like when we took them off the heat. Once you take the pan off the heat let it sit until the contents are relatively cool, this may take 20-30 minutes. After your ingredients have cooled down put them into a blender with a little bit of added water to help with mixing purposes and then add your salt. Finally turn on the blender and watch as your ingredients turn into the delicious ají sauce! Once you feel your sauce is well mixed turn off the blender, take a taste, and experience the mind-blowing taste of ají! This recipe should make about 2 small containers similar to the laste photo. 

Well folks I hope you enjoy getting down to business and making your ají sauce because it will add amazing flavor to many meals to come! As always please share this link on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and whatever other social media sites you are plugged into. Also if you are a student studying abroad in another country please leave a comment below if you are interested in doing a guest post! For those of you that do make the ají sauce please share your experience with us on how it went! Best of luck! 

The Journey Starts Now

Throughout the past year I have been to Greece, Jamaica, many different states in the United States, and I am currently studying in Lima, Peru for 5 months. During all my travels I have begun to realize that my experiences with food have been limited to say the least. Now don't get me wrong, I am not trying to blame this on my family or anything, I am just noticing that through living in the United States, and not eating out very often, I have been unaware of all the varieties of delicious foods out there. 

I have been in Peru now for three months and at first all I could think about was the amazing food, so my photo blog, Finkster Photos, quickly became overridden by pictures and stories of peruvian food. That's when I got the brilliant idea to start up a second blog that had the soul purpose of talking about food, sharing recipes, and hopefully highlighting ethnic foods from around the world through the vantage point of myself and other international students studying in other countries. While this is still the focus behind the blog, I must confess that my studies and other social activities have swallowed me up and spit me out and so about a month after I had planned to launch my blog I am finally doing so. Today I would like to give you just a little taste of what is to come by giving you this nice photo collage of one of my resent dinners I had here with my Peruvian Host Family. This past weekend we ate this delicious spread of peanut chicken with potatoes, a salad mixture, and a peach dessert to top it all off. Based off of this photo alone you may be able to infer that my living situation in Peru has been pretty fantastic, between the warm interactions with my host family and the abundance of delicious food. 

Since you will be hearing a lot more about my culinary adventures in Peru I should let you know that my inspirations stemmed not only from peruvian food, but also from a specific Peruvian woman, Lucy. Who is Lucy do you ask? Lucy works at my host family's house and prepares the most amazing food in all of Peru. Yes that sounds like a pretty broad generalization, but I am serious, her food is to die for! There is one other international student at my house, from the United States, and we have started to tag out Tweets and Facebook messages with the hash-tag #ILoveLucy whenever we talk about food. So as a heads up I wanted to let you know that you will be hearing of Lucy a lot through my following blogs and you will hopefully be able to see pictures and videos of her preparing authentic Peruvian dishes. While I would love to take videos of us preparing food together all the time I unfortunately haven't found a good way to capture the video yet, so if I can do so I will be able to not only provide commentary, pictures, and recipes but I will also provide step by step videos. 

As I finish this first blog entry I would like to say thanks for reading and ask that you help me make this blog a hit by following my blog, liking my Facebook page, and sharing this entry on your social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google +, and whatever other social media sites you use. Also if you are a student who is currently studying abroad please leave a comment on this blog entry and let me know so we can work together to get a blog post up about your culinary adventures in your host country.