Dawn on the Amazon Captain’s Blog

Quinua is one of the Andean supergrains, a favorite of the Incas. It is perfect for vegetarians because it has approximately the same protein as milk, cheese, or meat and all of the essential amino acids plus it is easy to digest. If you can not find quinua, you can substitute cous cous, or you can take a cruise with Dawn on the Amazon and enjoy the real thing.

Vegetarian Steamed Vegetables with Quinua

1 small onion chopped fine
3 Tbls olive oil
1 Tbls honey, or to taste
2 small carrots chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 branches of fresh cilantro chopped
3 branches fresh parsley chopped
1 piece cinnamon
1 tsp ginger chopped very fine
½ tsp paprika
1 piece of pumpkin or squash
1 zucchini
2 tomatoes peeled, seeded, and chopped
½ cup golden raisins
2 cups boiled quinua or cous cous
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup boiled garbanzo beans

Stir fry onions in olive oil on medium heat, till golden, add the honey, mix for 1 minute, add carrots, celery, cilantro, parsley, cinnamon, ginger, paprika, add salt and pepper.

Add just enough water to cover the vegetables and boil until the carrots are just tender, or use a steamer.

Add the zucchini, and pumpkin, cook and add the tomatoes, and the raisins. Cook for one minute; take off the stove.

Add the parsley and cilantro and the cinnamon.

Spoon the steamed vegetables onto the quinua and serve.

Vegetarian Steamed Vegetables with Quinua

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For the Dawn on the Amazon Peruvian Cuisine Cookbook

Rosemary Potato Croquetas

Our Peruvian Grandmother Judy and Marmelita worked all morning perfecting these ingredients and techniques. Our crew and I spent half an hour finishing them off. That’s just the way it is…

1 cup diced chicken
1 cup diced cecina (substitute cured ham)
9 small yellow potatoes (substitute favorite potato)
3 tbls. olive oil
1 tbls. fresh diced rosemary
1 tsp. sage
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup bread flour
3 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
oil to fry

Boil the potatoes, peel, and mash in a large bowl to the texture of pastry. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in pan, fry cecina or ham, add chicken, rosemary, sage, and thyme, stir fry four minutes. Set aside.

Make a crater in the potatoes to add one egg, and the cecina, herb mixture. Mix everything while slowly adding the salt and pepper.

Knead for 10 minutes, then make over 20 oblong shapes of the croquetas.

Put the unbleached flour on one plate, and the bread flour on another plate, mix the two eggs in a bowl.

As you heat the oil to hot, roll the croquettas in the plain flour, then the eggs, then the bread flour.

Fry each one until golden brown.

Rosemary Potato Croquetas

Bill Grimes Sample Menu Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

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Brown Rice With Brazil Nuts and Asparagus for 4 Persons

330 grams (10-12 ounces) asparagus
3 tablespoons chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 clove garlic, mashed
3 Chinese green onions, separate the white and green parts and chop each
1 tsp ginger, minced
2 cups of brown rice, cooked in advance
1/2 cups of brazil nuts pealed, chopped and and toasted in a skillet with no oil, until just as the nut pieces turn light brown
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon of cilantro, diced
Just enough oil to fry the rice

Trim off the fiber bottom part of the asparagus and discard. Cut the rest into 1 centimeter pieces.

Mix the chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, and the sugar.

Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok and stir fry the garlic, the white part of the green onions, and the ginger for a few seconds.

Add the asparagus and stir-fry for 1 minute.

Add the rice and mix with the rest until hot.

Add the toasted Brazil nuts and the mix of sauce.

Stir all together and add the sesame oil and the green part of the onions and the cilantro.

Dawn on the Amazon Peruvian Cuisine Cookbook

Technorati Tags: recipes,Dawn on the Amazon,Peru,Peruvian cuisine,cookbook

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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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Cake batter
500 grams of real butter
650 grams of flour mix (mixed with baking powder)
18 egg yolks
9 egg whites
500 grams of sugar
Pinch of salt
Shred peels of 2 oranges
Squeeze juice of one and a half of the oranges
1/8th cup of pisco, rum, or wine
2 tsp vanilla
Brazil nuts or pecans and raisins to taste

Sauce to pour over cake after it is baked
½ cup pisco, rum, or wine
500 grams of sugar
3 cups water

Pre-heat oven to 230° C or 450° F

Combine sugar and butter to creamy texture, add a little egg yolk and mix, add more, a little at a time, mixing till all the yolk is incorporated in the butter and sugar.

Add egg whites a little at a time until incorporated into the mix.
Add the pinch of salt.
Add the fresh squeezed orange juice.
Add the pisco and the vanilla.
Add the shredded orange peel.
Add the raisins and nuts.
Add flour.

Rub oil or butter on two pans and sprinkle with a dusting of flour. Pour mixture into the two pans, and place in the preheated oven for one hour or until done.

Have the sauce mixed and ready to pour over the cake as soon as it is removed from the oven.

Make an attractive design on the cake with peach slices interspersed with cherries, or whatever fruit is available.

Dawn on the Amazon Recipes of Peru Cookbook, Marmelita’s Pisco Butter Cake.

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1 large onion
½ Ripe red Pimiento or Ripe Red Bell Pepper
½ Rocoto pepper
2 Aji Dulce, green, thin walled sweet peppers.
1 Yellow Aji Mirasol pepper
A lot of chopped cilantro and parsely
The juice of 1 or 2 limes, or the golf ball size limones, (tart limes)
A small amount of olive oil, just a few drops
Salt to taste

Serves 5

Wash and soak all of the vegetables in pure water. Make a final rinse in fresh pure water. Slice all of the vegetables into long narrow slivers, not chopped. Mix with the lime juice, olive oil, and salt.

Salsa Criolla compliments cecina and tacacho, and all fried foods like fish and potatoes.

This recipe is different than a salsa from Mexico or the South Western US.

Part of what makes it different is the rocoto, or locoto (Capsicum pubescens). The Rocoto is one of the oldest domesticated peppers, from 5000 years ago in the pre-Incan Andes. The walls are thick like a Bell Pepper but hot, I would say very hot. Do not handle with your bare hands…

The Aji Dulce are pepper related to and shaped like a habanero, without the intense heat. Instead they have a wonderfully unique mild sweet smoky flavor.

The Aji Mirasol pepper, Capsicum Annuum, has a fruity apricot taste and smell. It is mildly hot.

Dawn on the Amazon Recipes of Peru Cookbook, Marjorie’s Special Salsa Criolla

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A Good Cup of Coffee, Iquitos Peru

I am drinking a good cup of coffee, watching the sun rise over my boats anchored 100 yards from my window. Most people think they can’t get a good cup of coffee in Iquitos Peru. Every morning I prove that is not true.

Coffee is not a big part of the culture of Peru. It is more a source of income than a beverage to be enjoyed. We export 95 % of our coffee, including most of the organic, shade grown, high altitude specialty coffees that bring premium prices on the international market.

Most Peruvians do not drink coffee, and when they do it is usually instant. The only coffee culture I am aware of in Iquitos is at wakes before a funeral. Usually corn meal is added to ground coffee. Big pots of this mixture are boiled at 9 p.m., midnight, and another at 3 or 4 in the morning. It is called poor man’s coffee.

I used to bring half a suitcase of French roast and filters when I came to Iquitos. When that ran out I prowled the huge market place to find and sample the small shops selling fresh ground coffee. Some of that coffee was good, but not roasted.

We moved 18 blocks from the main market and tourist center for a year. A couple of blocks from my home was a “grocery store” owned by a couple in their 80’s. You have probably never seen a grocery store with fewer supplies to sell.

I noticed a faded wooden sign I could barely read that must have been 50 years old. It said, Se Vende Café Molido, or Ground Coffee for Sale.

I asked for a quarter kilo. The old man opened a tin box as old as the sign, and a wonderful aroma was released into the room. The coffee was roasted a dark chocolate brown.

Even though it was afternoon and I only drink coffee in the morning, I hurriedly stumbled home with the bag pressed to my nose, brewed a pot of coffee, and have not wished for French Roast since that day.

The old gentleman grocer buys green beans from a special coffee grower in the hills above Tarapoto. He roasts the beans himself in the back yard and grinds a small batch every couple of days.

This is a good cup of coffee, strong but not bitter, full bodied, with a delicate cocoa-laced sweetness. Like finding a diamond in the coal bin, a Peruvian jewel.

Join us on a gourmet Peruvian cuisine cruise through the rainforest. Unless the old grocer couple passes on to coffee heaven, we will drink some of the best coffee in the world, brewed just before sunrise. Don’t forget, we are called Dawn on the Amazon.

I am sure you will agree, “This is a good cup of coffee, from Iquitos Peru.”

A Good Cup of Coffee, Iquitos Peru

Bill Grimes, Welcome to Iquitos Peru, Dawn on the Amazon Tours and Cruises

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For when you want a taste of Peru but can’t fly down to see us, Dawn on the Amazon is compiling recipes of Peru. What a gourmet, Peruvian grandmother would serve to her family when she wants them to remember it’s special.

From this modest beginning, over time, will come a list of recipes of Peru and then a Dawn on the Amazon Recipes of Peru cookbook. This is our first recipe.

Cecina con Tacacho:
Tacacho is green bananas (platano). Two per serving. Sauté, boil, or bake until they are soft enough to mash. Mix a with little pork fat, or palm or olive oil, and small pieces of cooked pork (optional), just enough to make the pieces stick. Form into a baseball sized ball and cook over charcoal until heated through. Serve with the best ham-like cut of pork you can get, no fat at all, cured, dried, and salted, called cecina. It makes a very good meal. To impress a girl from Iquitos with a special meal you would either buy her ceviche or cecina with tacacho.

Dawn on the Amazon Recipes of Peru Cookbook, Cecina con Tacacho.

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