Peruvian Aji Amarillo Fish Tiradito With a Passion Fruit Leche Tigre, Toasted Corn and Deep Fried Peruvian Purple Potato Chips

Peruvian food is unique in it’s own way. A combination of a wide variety of natural resources from the country rich in food diversity and culture. Peru grows over 200 varieties of potatoes, including the beautiful and vibrant purple potato. They also grow over 50 varieties of corn in every color off the rainbow, in comparison to the just 10 varieties grown in the United States. Peru’s cuisine is heavily influenced by the many cultures that have migrated to Peru. The immigrants from China, Japan and Spain have contributed the most from their own cultures cuisine. Aji Amarillo is a medium spicy yellow pepper that is pureed and used extensively in pork, beef, fish and chicken dishes. It is best to buy the Aji Amarillo paste as it is not only easier to find, but easier to use in stir fry and savory sauces and marinades. These ingredients were not widely available in the United States until the past 10 years and now they are everywhere and if your store does not have them, then you can easily obtain jar online quickly as they are extremely popular as Peru is now a major travel destination for those wanting to enjoy the beautiful countryside, an exciting old world cuisine and the excitement of exploring Macchu Pichu.

Leche de Tigre (Tiger’s milk) is a citrus marinade used for fish. Sometimes lemon juice is used, sometimes it is lime juice, frequently it contains orange juice. I have changed it up a bit by using a combination containing passion fruit juice, just because I love the sweet and tart flavor passion fruit gives when used. The juices are combined with just a touch of garlic, ginger and celery to round out the flavor.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 6 for dinner, 10 as an appetizer

Ingredients:

2 lbs firm white fish fillets sliced about ½ inch thin

2 large whole sweet potatoes

½ head whole lettuce leaves, separated

⅓ cup Peruvian Choclo corn kernals (in frozen section or at latin grocery store)

1 -2 cobbs of corn (Peruvian Giant Choclo if you can find it, usually frozen) cobbs cut into 6 slices

½ cup toasted corn (this is usually the larger corn, or you can buy “corn nuts” in snack section of grocery store)

1/3 red onion sliced into thin rings

Marinade ingredients:

½ cup passionfruit juice

½ cup orange juice

½ cup aji amarillo paste depending on level of spice wanted

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice

3/4 tsp minced garlic

3/4 tsp minced ginger

¾ cup mild olive oil

1 stalk celery

1 ½ Tbs salt

fresh Cilantro leaves for garnish

1 bag blue or red or mixed Peruvian thick cut potato chips (I used Trader Joes)

Directions:

Make the marinade: Place all of the marinade ingredients into a blender with the exception of the olive oil. Blend until smooth. Add the oil to the blender slowly in a thin stream and continue to blend. Place your sliced fish in a container to marinate. Pour all of the marinade over the fish. Marinate for 1 to 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the sweet potatoes. Simmer for 10 minutes. Pierce with a knife. Do not slice through the potato with a knife. If the potato pierces easily, then they are done. This is all dependent on the size of the potato you use. If the potato is still very firm, then you may need to cook another 10 minutes. Cool potato. Peel and then slice into 4-6 sections. Refrigerate.

When ready to serve, arrange your fish on a large platter. Place the pieces of sweet potato and corn on the cobb around the platter. Sprinkle with the loose choclo corn kernels. Sprinkle on the toasted corn, the cilantro and the red onion rings. Serve immediately or set back in refrigerator until ready to serve. Serve with Peruvian potato chips on the side.