Peruvian Cookery at Cactus Kitchens with Encona

I love food and I am always looking for new types of cuisines to discover. A while back I hosted a series of events called "Flavours of" where I cooked my way around the world experimenting with new and unusual ingredients and cooking techniques. Digging deep in to different cultures and cuisines for vegetarian recipes was challenging but fun. The virtual culinary journey was really educational and I had lots of fun in the process trying and sampling dishes which were unknown to me.

One country I missed out on  was Peru, so when I was recently invited to go and cook some Peruvian cuisine with Julio Brujis from Panka Peruvian Food and Encona sauces at Cactus Kitchens.I jumped at the chance. Encona sauces are my firm favorite. I love the spicy sauces, as my palate always craves a hint of spice in all my dishes.This is primarily due to my Indian roots and heritage where chillies and spices are given paramount importance in the kitchen. 

The new launch of Peruvian Amarillo chilli sauce really excited me. Amarillo chilli peppers are  part of the capsicum family. They range from 6-7 inches when fully grown and change from green into a deep orange when ripe. They have a very unique fruity flavour with a slight spicy kick. The chillies are delicious when added to salsas, sauces and added to vegetables and salads. They also work extremely well when roasted or dried and preserved.

The evening at Cactus kitchens  with our chef Julio was very enjoyable. My fellow blogger friends cooked  non vegetarian recipes where as I had my recipes were adapted to suit my vegetarian diet.

The non vegetarians made Cebiche "Aji Amarillo" a salad with fish, Peruvian choclo corn, onions, garlic, ginger, limes, fresh coriander and the Encona Amarilli chilli sauce. 

The vegetarian version was the Cebiche of Baby mushrooms and Artichoke Hearts. This had lovely flavours of roasted peppers, cooked artichokes, Peruvian chocolo corn, garlic, ginger, limes, coriander,onions, and the Amarillo chilli sauce. The salad was packed with a spicy, citrussy flavours that were simply delectable.

The second recipe that we created was Seafood Quinotto for the non vegetarians and I created a a delicious and mouthwatering Vegetable Quinotto, this is a risotto but made with Quinoa instead of risotto rice.The Quinotto of courgettes, asparagus, tomatoes and peppers flavoured with garlic, onions, parsley and Amarillo chilli sauce was absolutely divine and full of flavour.

I attended the event cookery class with my friend Heidi who blogs at Kitchen Talks. You can see us both here proudly posing with our masterpieces.
I was invited by Encona to participate in the Peruvian masterclass, all views and opinions expressed in this post are of my personal experience and unbiased.