Taking the Heat: San Diego's Peruvian Markets

Chef Ron Oliver has a thing for Peruvian food. So, The Marine Room chef got in touch with me recently with an invitation to introduce me to a little place in Hillcrest that sells Peruvian groceries. I wracked my brain trying to come up with the place. After all, I'd lived in the neighborhood for 12 years. But, I shouldn't have bothered trying because the place isn't a market exactly. It's a travel agency: Latin American Travel & Services. It's in an office building on Fifth Ave. next door to Hash House A Go Go. Step inside and it's pretty much what you'd expect of a travel agency office. But then there's that large ante room, with shelves filled with all sorts of unexpected treats. Owners Tomas and Nelly Centurion basically have a little grocery store going--and even have a freezer and refrigerator in the back with still more products for the homesick Peruvian.


When you think of Peru, often the first food that comes to mind is potatoes--and you can find them at this little shop, so long as you like freeze dried--or dehydrated--canned, and frozen versions of them.

Above you can see chuno blanco and negro--black and white potatoes. Yes, they're freeze dried, but this is an interesting Peruvian tradition, centuries old, derived from the necessities of harsh living conditions. First, a frost-resistant variety of potato is alternately exposed to the low night temperatures of the Andes and then intense sunlight. This goes on for several days.

The chuno blanco is the result of washing the now dried potatoes, which are then dried once again in the sun and stomped on to remove the skins and any residual liquid. Chuno negro isn't washed, just sun dried. The potatoes turn black from oxidation. Once the process is complete, the potatoes can be stored for months, even years. They're used in soups and stews, even desserts. And they can be ground into flour.

Grains, another staple of Peruvian cuisine, are plentiful at Latin America Travel Services. There were wheat berries--both white and green--as well an Kiwicha Amaranto, a whole grain in the quinoa family but with more protein. You can use it as cereal and also add it to soups. And, they have quinoa as well. I also found several varieties of large dried corn kernels (similar to what's used for corn nuts). I've bought versions of these in the past. They're fun to toast in a little oil and salt for a snack or to sprinkle on a meat dish.

On a shelf nearby were jars of quite large purple olives. I bought the ones on the left below and have been enjoying their salty meatiness as a snack.


The Centurions have a full line of tropical juices and nectars, including chicha morada, made with purple corn and said to lower blood pressure. And, if you want to make your own, they sell bags of purple corn on the cob. Just boil it with pineapple rind, cinnamon, and cloves. You only need to use one cob, according to Tomas Centurion. A little goes a long way.


Related to chicha morada is chicha de jora, a fermented corn liquid which is tangy like a vinegar. In Peru, it's a beer-like drink but at Sr. Centurion's suggestion, I've been using it in marinades for meats.


Back in the room with the freezer Sr. Centurion pulled out a number of bags of frozen corn and potatoes, and caigua, an unusual long green vegetable that can be used for stuffing. Chef Ron shows you how to prepare it, and has a recipe for quinoa salad that uses caigua.

One of the products that got Chef Ron most excited was the Aji Amarillo, a yellow pepper paste with heat, but also an earthy aromatic quality that makes it sublime in stews. I bought a jar of that and Panca Pepper. This is aji panca, red chile paste from a chile that grows in the Andes. I recently used it in a braised lamb shank dish.


In the spirit of the morning, as we left Latin America Travel & Services I suggested to Ron that we have lunch at a little restaurant/market in Clairemont that also focuses on Latin America: Tropical Star. When we walked in, we both started laughing because on the shelves were many of the same products we'd just left.


Well, Tropical Star's focus is more about Puerto Rican and Latin American cuisine, but there obviously are overlaps. If you love Latin American and Caribbean cuisine it's a place worth visiting. Here, the focus is on the restaurant--tiny as it is--with a sideline in groceries (unlike many of my favorite ethnic markets, which also have small eateries). You'll find Cuban dishes like Ropa Vieja, Cuban-style shredded beef seasoned with garlic, onion, and bell peppers served with white rice, black beans, fried plantains, and boiled yucca; and Picada Colombiana, a Columbian feast of chorizo, morcilla (black sausage), chicarron (pork rinds, of course), patacones (fried green plantains), papas criolla (yellow potatoes), yucca frita (fried yucca), and arepa (a cornmeal griddle cake). There are empenadas from Argentina, Salvadoran pupusas, Brazilian bauru, and Puerto Rican arroz con pollo.


And, the groceries. We saw many of the same items we Tomas Centurion showed us along with some other interesting products, like bags of delicious crispy yucca chips.

I picked up small tins of octopus and squid, a container of dulce de leche, and some homemade cookies that were thick and deliciously crumbly.

Finally, if you're looking for yet another shop for Latin American and Caribbean groceries, there's Andres Latin Market, attached to Andre's Restaurant on Morena Blvd. in Bay Park. It's got a lovely assortment of many of these same items, as well as fresh produce, sausages, sweets, and prepared foods.

Latin American Travel & Services is located at 3636 Fifth Ave., Suite 204 in Hillcrest. The phone number is 619-296-9579.

Tropical Star is located at 6163 Balboa Ave. in the Crest Shopping Mall in Clairemont. The phone number is 858-874-7827.

Andres Latin Market is located at 1235 Morena Blvd. in Bay Park. The phone number is 619-275-6523.








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Lamb Shanks with a Peruvian Touch

What's in your pantry? Mine is stocked with an eclectic array of products from all over the world, thanks to my endless ethnic market hopping. Well, recently I met Chef Ron Oliver of The Marine Room at a little place he knew of in Hillcrest that sells Peruvian foodstuff. I can't call Latin America Travel & Services a market. It isn't. But, the owners, Tomas and Nelly Centurion, have a little area in an ante room where they sell Peruvian food products. I'll write more about this later with some recipes from Chef Ron, but I did pick up some interesting products, including a jar of Panca pepper paste. And, I decided to try it with braised lamb shanks.

Panca pepper paste and Chimayo red chile powder

The panca peppers are a deep red, mild pepper grown in Peru. They have a lovely smoky tone to them, along with a nice fruitiness. Usually they're sold dry or, as what I found, in a paste, and are perfect for dishes like stews and sauces. They go well with fish, but also poultry and meat.

I also added some other unusual ingredients to the dish--cinnamon sticks, Chimayo red chile powder (a favorite smoky chile powder I discovered in Chimayo, New Mexico, near Santa Fe), fresh red chile pimentos I found at Specialty Produce, and artichoke hearts.

Red chile pimentos

These, with more of the usual fare for a braising created a thick, rich complex sauce for the lamb shanks, which did so well in the braising that the meat started falling off the bone.

Someday, we will have cooler weather in San Diego, although it doesn't feel like it right now. But in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy my second helping of the shanks this evening and would recommend it as a dish to make next year for Rosh Hashanah or looking forward, for Chanukah.

Braised Lamb Shanks with Panca Pepper Paste and Artichokes

Serves 4

4 lamb shanks
2 tbl. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 head of garlic, with sliced cloves
4 carrots, sliced
1/2 bottle of full-bodied red wine (I used a Barolo)
1 cans of low-fat, low-sodium chicken stock
2 sticks cinnamon
4 tsp. Chimayo red chili powder
6 tbl. Panca pepper paste
6 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
4 red chile pimentos or 2 red bell peppers, cut into one-inch pieces
12 oz. bag of frozen artichoke hearts, thawed

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Sprinkle lamb shanks with salt and pepper. Add olive oil to warmed heavy pot that can go in the oven, then add lamb shanks and brown on all sides.

Browned lamb shanks

Remove and set aside the lamb. Drain the pot of the fat, add a little more olive oil to the pot, and use a spoon to scrape the brown bits. Add the onion, garlic, and carrots. Saute until softened. Add the wine and bring to a simmer until it reduces to one-half the original amount.

2. Add the chicken stock, Chimayo red chili powder, Panca pepper paste, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, and thyme to the pot. Return the lamb to the pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover the pot and place in the oven. Cook for 1 1/2 hours, periodically stirring the mixture and turning the shanks.

3. At 1 1/2 hours, add the pimentos and artichoke hearts. Return the covered pot to the oven for another hour. Remove when the lamb is tender. Put on the stove top and tilt the pot to remove any fat that's risen to the top. Bring the lamb shank sauce to a boil, uncovered until the sauce thickens enough to coat a spoon, about 20 minutes. Discard the bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, and thyme stems.

Serve over rice or noodles or polenta/grits.

Braised lamb shanks and rice

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