A not long time ago our colleague returned from a trip to Peru, so we asked her to bring us a little bit closer to Peruvian culture. Knowing us, you probably guessed that we specifically asked that she bring our bellies closer to the culture… With this in mind, she decided to prepare one of the more popular Peruvian dishes for us and our rumbling tummies. Peruvian cuisine is an eclectic blend of influences from Europe, Asia, and West Africa, all of which have left their mark upon it within the historical period. The cuisine focuses on local foods such as maize, various forms of potatoes, quinoa, and legumes. Rice, wheat, and meat have also become prominent staples since the Spanish invasion. Though colonization has been an undeniably horrible process that is our world’s largest and longest-running genocide (the effects of which are still causing suffering throughout the world, for the record), they resulted in many plants being brought back to Europe from the Americas. Many of these have come to be staples in the diets of Europeans. Corn, beans, and tomatoes are just a few examples. If this wasn’t enough, potatoes also came to Europe this way; Peru, in fact, is known as quite the potato country: they have around 5000 varieties there (yes, you read that right). Additionally, the diverse climates present in the country leads to a range of fruits that are exotic in Europe, such as papaya, pineapple, passion fruit, and many others that we had never even heard of!
Perhaps the most popular dish in Peru is known as lomo saltado. This means roasted beef saltado, though in some places the dish is simply referred to as saltadito. Though (as you likely guessed from the name) the original contains beef, Nina was up to the challenge of making a vegan version, now formally known as “vegan saltado.” The traditional version normally involves cooking beef along with vegetables that are cut into large pieces or strips. Though many vegetables can be used, onion, pepper, and broccoli are among the most common. This is then served with rice and cooked potatoes. This dish is actually a fusion of elements of Peruvian and Chinese cooking traditions, which is referred to as Chifa (check it out).
Recipe, preparation and price for the lunch
|
Quantity(g or ml) |
Price for 4 person (EUR) |
|
|
Main dish |
|
|
|
Red paprika |
240 |
0,72 |
|
Zucchini |
300 |
0,75 |
|
Carrots |
140 |
0,18 |
|
Onion |
200 |
0,32 |
|
Tomatoe |
130 |
0,39 |
|
Sweet corn cained |
60 |
0,21 |
|
Peas cained |
30 |
0,11 |
|
Paprika cained |
15 |
0,05 |
|
Olive oil |
20 |
0,12 |
|
Salt |
1 |
0,0005 |
|
Side dish |
||
|
Potatoe |
550 |
0,65 |
|
Olive oil |
20 |
0,12 |
|
salt |
1 |
0,0005 |
|
rice |
160 |
0,16 |
|
salt |
1 |
0,0005 |
|
avocado |
120 |
1,00 |
|
Salad |
||
|
Radicchio |
160 |
0,25 |
|
Tomatoe |
100 |
0,30 |
|
Paprika |
110 |
0,33 |
|
Olive oil |
20 |
0,12 |
|
Salt |
0,5 |
0,00025 |
|
Together |
5,65 |
To make this tasty dish, you begin with fairly large onion cubed and pan fried in olive oil. Soon after, large pieces of carrot, red pepper, zucchini, and fresh cherry tomatoes are added and allowed to cook for a while. At the end (just enough to heat them) a mixture of canned peas and corn are thrown in. To spice these veggies we added in a bit of salt. While we had that going, we started on the side dishes. In salted water we cooked rice in one pot and potato in another. Once the potatoes were mostly cooked we also roasted them with some olive oil to make them nice and crispy. Though traditionally these potatoes would be fried (and served with fish) we opted for a healthier route (our arteries are thanking us and so will yours). In addition to these dishes we also had some fresh avocado cut up to add on top or eat on the side.
To make things even better, our other colleague brought in fresh radicchio from her garden, which we then used to make a salad with tomato and red pepper.
The price for our lunch came out to 1.4€ per person. Even though we got the radicchio for free, we factored it in as it would be if we had bought it from the store to give you a clearer idea. The most expensive ingredient (as you’ve likely guessed) was avocado. This makes a lot of sense since it needs to be imported and it ripens quickly, making transportation and storage a bit tricky. We were also a bit out of season for zucchini and peppers, so that probably raised our price a bit. Once summer is here this dish would be a bit cheaper.
Nutritional information for our lunch
|
With lunch consumed quantity |
% From daly needs |
||
|
Energy |
501,1 |
kcal |
25,1 |
|
Proteins |
10,6 |
g |
19 |
|
Total
fatts |
15,8 |
g |
35,9 |
|
Carbohydrates |
82,6 |
g |
|
|
Starch |
22,4 |
g |
|
|
Sugar |
14,1 |
g |
|
|
Fibers |
12,5 |
g |
49,9 |
|
Calcium (Ca) |
78,7 |
mg |
7,9 |
|
Iron (Fe) |
4,4 |
mg |
44,5 |
|
Magnesium (Mg) |
102,2 |
mg |
25,6 |
|
Phosphorus (P) |
263 |
mg |
37,6 |
|
Potassium (K) |
1641,7 |
mg |
82,1 |
|
Sodium (Na) |
316,9 |
mg |
57,6 |
|
Zinc (Zn) |
2,2 |
mg |
21,8 |
|
Copper (Cu) |
0,6 |
mg |
63,8 |
|
Fluoride
(F) |
5,1 |
µg |
1275,6 |
|
Manganese (Mn) |
1,2 |
mg |
52,6 |
|
Selenium (Se) |
7,7 |
µg |
15,5 |
|
Vitamin
A |
472,3 |
µg |
47,2 |
|
Vitamin
E |
5,1 |
mg |
33,9 |
|
Vitamin
D |
0 |
µg |
0 |
|
Vitamin
C |
180,5 |
mg |
180,5 |
|
Thiamin (B1) |
0,5 |
mg |
42 |
|
Riboflavin
(B2) |
0,3 |
mg |
21,6 |
|
Niacin (B3) |
6,1 |
mg |
41,9 |
|
Pantothenic acid (B5) |
2,2 |
mg |
36,9 |
|
Vitamin
B6 |
1,1 |
mg |
76,6 |
|
Folic acid (B9) |
254,1 |
µg |
63,5 |
|
Vitamin
B12 |
0 |
µg |
0 |
|
Vitamin
K |
136,1 |
µg |
194,4 |
With this lunch, we covered 25% of the daily calorie requirements for an average person. However, this time we did not reach an adequate amount of protein (25% of the daily requirement) with our lunch. We reached 20%, which is not negligible, but this means the other meals in our day need to have a bit more protein (this is why a varied diet is so important!). Beans were the only legume in this meal and turned out to provide very little protein; just one-ninth of the protein for the meal came from this source! Though potatoes and rice are starchy foods, they contributed most of the protein in this lunch (as if we needed a reason to love potatoes more). Of the total 10g of protein in the lunch, each of these starchy staples provided more than 2.5g. Besides these foods (going from most to least) zucchini, avocado, pepper, radicchio, onion, and corn also provided protein, each between 1 and 0.5g. As you’ve seen in our previous meals, we were also a bit low on calcium and selenium and lacking vitamins D and B12. These should be replaced with a dietary supplement. Aside from these though, all other vitamins and minerals were obtained in sufficient quantities.
As always, if you have any questions about today’s lunch, its nutritional value, or if you would like to suggest future lunches to us then send us a message at info@hungry-pumpkin.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Have a great weekend and maybe Peruse some nice vegan recipes in the sun!
The Hungry Pumpkin Team
