Cusco is not only known for its tourist attractions but also for its varied gastronomic offerings, including a long legacy of dishes prepared and perfected over the centuries and enriched with Western ingredients. The city’s chicherÃas and picanterÃas, which offer typical dishes, are no longer frequented exclusively by locals. Tourists also find them an unmissable experience. Some of the best dishes are:
1.- CHIRI UCHU
It is a delicious dish that is consumed during the festivities of Cusco, in Corpus Christi, in June, and also in the Inti Raymi “Festival of the Sun”. This dish is a mixture of Cuy meat, boiled chicken, chalona, torreja, trout roe, cochayuyo or seaweed, sausage, roasted corn, Serrano cheese, chorizo, rocoto.
This food is served cold on a single plate, which you have to know how to eat. Some prefer to eat with cutlery, others just want to use their hands to taste this delicious stew. But the trick is to combine all the flavors at the same time, which will give you a greater culinary experience.
2.- BAKED GUINEA PIG
Consuming guinea pig meat has great health benefits, especially for people who have high cholesterol and triglyceride levels. It contains essential amino acids and essential fatty acids for human nutrition.
The guinea pig is a very important food for the preparation of this dish. First, it must be totally clean to be able to introduce it in boiling water. Then it is seasoned with all the condiments and at the end, it is placed inside an oven for its preparation.
This typical food can be accompanied with rice, potatoes, Creole salad, and fried yuquitas. Do not forget that to drink you can opt for a chicha de jora or morada, two typical Peruvian beverages.
3.- PUCHERO
A delicious dish that is served during the carnival season, between the months of January and February. The puchero or also known as T’impu contains cabbage, carrots, peaches, lamb meat, moraya, yucca, and chickpeas; it can be accompanied by a spicy chili bell pepper and of course, a hearty lamb meat broth, which helps with good digestion.
If you are in Cusco, during the carnival festival, do not hesitate to eat the delicious Puchero, a typical dish of Cusco.
4.- OLLUQUITO WITH CHARQUI
This dish is one of the fundamental dishes of Peruvian cuisine. It has two ingredients that are exclusively Peruvian: olluco, a kind of Andean tuber, and charqui, which is a dehydrated llama, alpaca, or lamb meat.
It is a stew of ollucos and chopped dried meat. Nowadays it is served with rice. The ollucos are washed and cut into long thin strips. In a pot with oil, fry the garlic, ground aji panca bell pepper, finely chopped charqui or beef, pepper, salt, and cumin. Stir well and wait until everything is well cooked before adding the chopped olluco. Add broth and cover. When it is ready, add a little oil and chopped fresh parsley.
5.- CHUÑO LAWA
A delicious stew of Inca origin. It is a spicy broth based on potatoes, chuño, chickpeas, rice, and various meats. In a liter of broth boils sausages, a handful of rice, green beans, and peeled potatoes. When everything is cooked, chuño flour dissolved in cold water is added. The mixture is stirred with a wooden spoon, called a wisla, and it is left to cook until it is ready. This dish is eaten at any time of the year.
6.- KAPCHI OF BEANS AND MUSHROOMS
The Kapchi of mushrooms is one of the favorite dishes in the homes of Cusco and more during the rainy season since only during these months you can find mushrooms in the heights of Cusco.
This dish is cooked with potato “compis,” with fresh beans (green), milk, cheese, mushrooms, and salt to taste. Kapchi can also be served with rice or stuffed rocoto; the complement will depend on the place where you decide to eat.
7.-CHAIRO
It is a traditional Andean soup from Cusco, it was created by the inhabitants of that time because many of them were dedicated to working on the farms, work that lasted several hours of the day, for that reason they were looking for a consistent food that would allow them to work without feeling hunger. This is how they created this consistent soup, rich in vitamins.
The Chairo contains lamb meat, dehydrated beef or Charqui, sweet potato, morayas, or chuño, peas, carrots, beans, mint, oregano, parsley, cumin, and salt.
8.- LECHON
In Cusco, lechon is one of the traditional dishes and it is offered in all the restaurants of the city; it is prepared at any time of the year, mainly during festivities or birthdays.
The preparation consists of seasoning all the pork both inside and out with salt, pepper, cumin, ground garlic, mustard, oregano, chicha de jora, and aji amarillo. It is accompanied with a tamale, bread, moraya, and an onion salad with delicious herbs.
9.- ADOBO CUSQUEÑO
The “Adobo cusqueño” is a traditional dish from Cusco made with pork meat, properly cooked in a reddish and spicy broth in the medium term. For this reason, this Cusco dish is known as “levanta muertos” (raising the dead).
Generally, Cusco families usually prepare this delicacy on important dates such as the birthdays of a member of the family and is served at breakfast, accompanied by a loaf of Oropesa bread.
10.- QUINOA SOUP
Quinoa is an excellent source of dietary fiber, containing both soluble and insoluble fiber. It has a high variety of vitamins and minerals, especially manganese, magnesium, iron, copper, and phosphorus. It is gluten-free and easy to digest.
Its consumption helps to reduce excess weight and constipation, is good for people with diabetes, and reduces cardiovascular disease and anemia in pregnant women and children.
