Dawn on the Amazon Captain’s Blog

Peruvian Cuisine with Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

I believe Peruvian cuisine rivals the better known, French, Italian, Chinese, and Mexican cuisines in the quality and variety of dishes and the expression of the sauces.

Like all of our programs, our cuisine can be customized to be as comforting or as adventurous as you wish. Every meal that has a culinary challenge also has either a homemade pasta or a big bowl of rich delicious chicken soup like grandma used to make, a homemade drink or fresh squeezed juice, a crisp fresh salad, real butter, peanut butter, a tropical jam, and a piece of chocolate.

Operating out of Iquitos, Peru, provides us an opportunity to blend the potatoes, sauces, and spices from the Andes with the amazing natural resources of the Amazon to make our unique but authentic Dawn on the Amazon culinary adventure.

The menu below was used for a 7 day cruise to Pacaya Samiria National Reserve on August 10th to the 16th. Different months will have different ripe tropical fruits and juices depending on availability. Some cruises have a different fresh squeezed tropical fruit juice every day.

First Day:
Lunch:

Dorado Catfish steamed with tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers, garlic, and ginger.
Herbed rice.
Palm heart, tomato, avocado, salad; dressed with lemon juice, and olive oil.
Cocona sauce (made from a citric tropical fruit that goes with fish). One bowl of cocona sauce is mild and one is with charapita hot peppers.
Fresh Camu Camu juice. Camu Camu has the highest vitamin C content of any substance on earth.
Whole wheat and white bread, real butter, jam, cheese.

Dinner:

Frittata with vegetables and cheese.
Aji Dulce, a local sweet pepper with a sweet smoky flavor, stuffed with a mixture of boiled palm heart, cheese, raisins, spices.
Aji Mirasol, a hot pepper stuffed with bread crumbs, bacon, cheese, and raisins.
Regional lettuce salad with Brazil nuts, onions, carrots, and tomatoes dressed with vinaigrette.
Drink: boiled fresh apple juice with quinoa (an Andean super grain prized by the Incas as the mother grain), and cinnamon.
Whole wheat and white bread, real butter, jam, cheese.

Second Day:
Breakfast:

Brewed Peruvian coffee or tea.
Fresh Mango juice.
Fruits (chirimoyas, pepinos, bananas, apples).
Cereal of Andean grains, yogurt, milk.
Eggs and bacon cooked to order.
Whole wheat, and white bread or toast, real butter, jam, cheese.

Lunch:

Chicken soup with wheat berries and vegetables.
Paca (majas), a nocturnal fruit eating rodent, the best meat in the jungle, cooked with dried aji panca peppers.
Mashed yellow potatoes from the Andes.
Canario Beans.
Fresh Tumbo juice.
Chocolates.

Dinner:

Suri grubs stuffed with cheese and bacon in wine sauce.
Calabresa (spicy sausage) and marinated chicken pieces skewered with onions and peppers, (brochetas).
Mashed and fried bananas (patacones).
Cucumber salad with lots of fresh basil and tomatoes.
Rocoto, a hot pepper, and huacatay, a Peruvian herb, salsa.
Fresh squeezed lemonade.

Day three:
Breakfast:

Brewed Peruvian coffee or tea.
Fresh squeezed Mandarine orange juice.
Fresh tropical fruit salad.
Eggs and bacon to order.
Cereals, milk, yogurt.
Whole and white bread or toast, real butter, jam, cheese, ham.

Lunch:

Andean Potato Salad with Ocopa sauce.
Brown rice, fried chicken a la plancha.
Cauliflower and broccoli with a creamy gravy sauce.
Drink: boiled cocona with cinnamon.

Dinner:

Homemade noodles with Pesto Sauce.
Escargot, made from giant land snails of the Amazon Rainforest, cooked with ginger, sweet pepper, garlic, and wine.
Whole wheat and white bread, real butter, jam, and cheese.
Drink: avena, made from wild oats, milk, sugar, cinnaman.

Day four:
Breakfast:

Brewed Peruvian coffee or tea.
Papaya Juice.
Tropical fruits.
Cereals, milk, yogurt.
Eggs and bacon cooked to order.
Whole wheat and white bread or toast, real butter, jam, cheese.

Picnic lunch for excursion in small boat:

Chicken sandwiches with cucumbers and tomatoes.
Drink: taperiba, a tropical fruit juice.

Dinner:

Pumpkin cream soup with toasted bread crumbs.
Cecina (lean, dried, cured pork).
Sweet potatoes and yellow potatoes.
Salsa Criolla and rocoto sauce.
Whole wheat and white bread, real butter, jam.
Fresh squeezed lemonade.

Fifth day:
Breakfast:

Brewed Peruvian coffee or tea.
Fresh pineapple juice.
Fresh tropical fruit salad.
Cereals, milk, yogurt.
Eggs and bacon to order.
Whole wheat and white bread or toast, peanut butter, real butter, jam, cheese.

Lunch:

Chicken stew cooked with potatoes and vegetables (Estafado de Pollo).
Olive rice.
Lettuce salad with tomatoes and avacados.
Fresh passion fruit juice.
Watermelon.

Dinner:

Duck soup cooked with rice, vegetables, and beer.
Caiman nuggets fried (chicharrones).
Bananas, fried.
Salsa Criolla.
Drink: tapioca boiled with milk, sugar, cinnamon.

Sixth day:
Breakfast:

Brewed Peruvian coffee or tea.
Fresh squeezed orange juice.
Watermelon.
Cereal, milk, yogurt.
Eggs and bacon to order.
Whole wheat and white bread or toast, real butter, peanut butter, jam.

Lunch:

Inchicapi soup, the most special Peruvian soup, made from fresh ground peanuts, corn meal, chicken broth, and spices.
Fish, sweet peppers, tomatoes and cilantro wrapped in leaves and steamed in its own juices.
Wild fungus with onions, peppers, garlic, and cilantro wrapped in leaves and steamed.
Boiled sweet potatoes and yellow potatoes.
Rocoto sauce and boiled cocona sauce.
Donuts, homemade.

Dinner:

Chicken with vegetables.
Brown rice.
Lettuce salad.
Whole wheat and white bread, real butter, jam, cheese.
Drink: fresh passion fruit juice.

Seventh day:
Breakfast:

Brewed Peruvian coffee or tea.
Fresh orange and pineapple juice.
Fresh tropical fruit salad.
Cereals, milk, yogurt.
Eggs and bacon to order.
Whole wheat, and white bread or toast, real butter, jam.

Picnic lunch on excursion in small boat:

Chicken sandwiches on whole wheat bread.
Cucumbers and tomatoes.
Sodas.

Our guests usually agree the Dawn on the Amazon menu is exciting, and the amount of food is too much. Judy, our Peruvian grandmother cook, takes pleasure in fattening you up. She not only practices North American hygiene, she goes a step farther. All fruits and vegetables are not just rinsed in pure water. They are rinsed and then soaked in pure water and then rinsed again.

This is not a rice and beans and salted dried fish boat. Unlike most other jungle programs you might have chosen, our guests do not come back starved, smelling bad, or sick.

We do not force you to eat grubs or giant snails but we do encourage you to try a bite so you can tell your friends back home about your amazing culinary adventure with Dawn on the Amazon.

If you do not like fish, we cook something special just for you. If you are a vegetarian, if you have a food allergy, if your religion or health problems prohibit certain foods, please let us know in advance and we will customize our menu to your special needs.

Most important is for you to enjoy your adventure, to have an unforgettable experience, and to share your story with family and friends for years to come.

Peruvian Cuisine with Dawn on the Amazon

Bill Grimes, Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

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Two ingredients make this hard to duplicate in most of North America, Europe, or Asia. Maybe some locations can find the aji dulce, a mild, smoky sweet pepper, but the guisador is difficult to find outside of the tropics. The best you can hope for is a pinch of saffron.

3 pounds boneless fish
3 red onions, chopped in medium pieces
3 or 4 cloves of garlic, crushed and diced
A lot of sliced ginger, 1½ ounces, slivered
4 tomatoes, chunked in large pieces
5 aji dulce peppers, sliced in strips
½ bell pepper, sliced in strips
1 tablespoon of palm oil
Cilantro
Salt, pepper, and guisador to taste

Serves 6.

Cut the fish in small pieces, salt 30 minutes before cooking, set aside.

Heat palm oil in a pan. When hot add the garlic, onion, a little pepper, and the guisador. Stir until guisador releases it’s yellow color.

Stir in sweet peppers, tomatoes, pepper, and ginger. Stir all ingredients for two minutes then add the pieces of fish, stirring and covering with the vegetables. When covered with vegetables, do not stir, put the lid on, let steam for 3 minutes.

Add 2½ cups of water, put the lid back on, bring to a boil then simmer for 18 minutes. At the last, stir in the cilantro and it is ready. Serve with herbed rice, boiled yuca, and cocona sauce (our next recipe).

We serve this on the first day of our cruises to make a good impression. At least it makes a good impression on me.

Dawn on the Amazon Recipes of Peru Cookbook, Sudado de Pescado.

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You Could Love Iquitos Peru

Iquitos, Peru, is surrounded by grand rivers and lush rainforest. This charming city has been my home port for adventure cruises on the magnificent Amazon River for three years. Please allow me to share my love for this frontier town with you.

Your first impression is the warm, oxygen rich, moist air. It feels good and is easy to breathe. Your second impression is there are thousands of motorcycles and three wheel rickshaws called moto-kars whizzing around. Be careful. The biggest adventure most travelers experience in Iquitos is racing through the streets perched on the edge of their seat in a moto-kar weaving in and out of traffic.

The rules of the road are different from what you are used to, so a bad wreck seems inevitable. Be sure to keep your arms, legs, and baggage inside the steel frame. When the Moto-kar arrives, make sure you get out on the sidewalk side, never the street side. Pedestrians have no right of way in Iquitos, Peru.

Iquitos has no roads connecting to other cities making it the largest, most isolated city on any continent. Cars are status symbols. I do not have one. Boats are important. I have four river boats. I walk or take a moto-kar, and I spend a lot of time in my boats.

I want to attempt to correct a mistake perpetuated by the travel industry, and the guide books, and found on the internet. Their combined wisdom is that the best time for the traveler to come to Iquitos, Peru, is during the “dry season” from June through November.

There are two seasons, but they are not dry and wet. What is called the “dry season” should actually be called the low water season when the water level can be 40 feet lower than the high water season. High water levels are from December through May.

The rise and fall of the water has little or nothing to do with rainfall on Iquitos. It is the snow melt and rainfall on the east slope of the Andes that causes our rivers to rise. In my opinion the only activities that are better in the low water season are fishing, collecting ornamental fish, and walking on the beach. Everything else is better in the high water season.

The most important historical event in Iquitos, Peru, was the rubber boom, which caused an explosion in population and prosperity from 1880 through 1912. The legacy from the rubber era can still be seen in the architecture of the city and the elegant mansions, as well as the Iron House and bandstand designed by Eiffel.

Most of the mansions are decorated with exquisitely painted ceramic tiles imported from Portugal, and with mahogany elaborately carved by the most skilled Italian artists. You could love a tour of the historical buildings of Iquitos. Be sure to visit the Museo Amazonico, constructed in 1863 to admire the many sculptures by Felipe Lettersten, as well as the old photographs from the turn of the 19th century.

Shopping is not good in Iquitos unless you want to buy tropical fruits, natural medicines, or other jungle extracts, in which case it is great. I wish every traveler would take a special tour with a knowledgeable guide to the Belen market in the morning for an unusual shopping experience. In the alleyway known as Pasaje Paquito there is a natural medicine to cure every imaginable illness, and in the lower Belen Market you can buy anything that can be sold.

The Plaza de Armas has a wonderful fountain. We like to buy ice cream cones from across the street and eat them in the cool mist from the fountain. It can be very romantic.

Another good place to hang out is the Malecon, also called the boulevard, or river walk, with the best view of the sunrise over the Itaya River. Perhaps we will meet. I live on the third floor of the corner building across the street from the historic chapel and seminary. My office is on the ground floor. Look for the sign that says Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises. Stop in and say hi.

On Saturday and Sunday night the boulevard is the place to be, where people gather to see and be seen. You would love to visit with some of the “characters” from the ex-pat community, drink a cold Iquiteña Extra beer (locally brewed), and watch the action. Clowns on stilts, mimes, slapstick comedians, capoeira, a brass band, street musicians, a dog and monkey show, and beautiful women all compete for your attention. My favorite is the group of capoeiristas that performs the capoeira, an acrobatic martial arts dance, every Saturday at 8 p.m. I have the best seat in the house from my balcony.

You would love going with me in one of the boats for a few hours. The port area is one of the most interesting parts of the city and most travelers never see it. I like to cruise slowly close to shore and watch the tugs and barges, the colectivos, llevo-llevos, lanchas, lanchitas, canoes, and rafts, all so full of people, livestock, fruit, charcoal, and other jungle products they look like they would surely sink. Coming and going, loading and unloading…not many places in the world have more interesting maritime traffic than the Iquitos ports.

The best way to experience the most picturesque area in Iquitos, the Barrio de Belen, is from a boat during the high water season. The houses are built on balsa rafts and float up and down as the water level changes. The floating houses are laid out in streets of water.

This area is known as the Venice of Peru. Everyone has a canoe or llevo-llevo with a peque-peque motor. We like to cruise through slow and easy watching life being lived in a different way. One of my boats was built here so I know the neighborhood very well. This is one of the most interesting places I have ever been and I think you would love it to.

A short boat ride away from Iquitos are some of my favorite places, the Amazon Animal Orphanage and Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm, the Momon River, a small winding stream with the jungle close on both sides, a petting zoo where you can wrestle a giant anaconda, the Bora and Yagua indigenous villages, and a good place to watch the pink river dolphins. I think you would love to spend part of a day cruising around the rivers of Iquitos with me.

The best of Iquitos Peru are the people
The most important components of Iquitos, Peru, are the friendly non-violent people. The streets are the safest of any city I have known, and are swept by hand every night so they are usually clean. Violent crime is nearly unheard of, but of course there are plenty of hustlers so please use common sense like always.

The population census shows far more women than men. You have probably never see so many people smiling and laughing, ready to dance, drink, play, and flirt for fun. Every holiday is thoroughly celebrated and there are a lot of parades and parties. Plus we are blessed with eternal summer.

Iquitos, Peru, is known as The City of Love. If you are not in love when you arrive, there is a good chance you will be when you leave…

You Could Love Iquitos Peru

Follow this link to see pictures from the Belen Market and Iquitos set of our photo album.

Bill Grimes, www.dawnontheamazon.com

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