PERUVIAN POTATOES
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This is a delicious and tasty Peruvian potato dish. Variations of it are also served in other parts of Latin America. It is typically served as a cold entrée or appetizer. A cheese and herb sauce is poured over boiled and peeled potatoes. The cheese and herbs are ground in a "batan" which is a hand operated grinding stone (mortar and pestle) and a tool found in most Peruvian households. This recipe substitutes the batan with a blender.

  •  6 potatoes
  • ½ cup lime juice
  • 4 tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 pound feta cheese or queso fresco
  • 1 green onion
  • Pepper or aji to taste
  • ½ tsp. tumeric
  • ½ cup milk
  • Lettuce leaves
  • 3 hard-boiled eggs
  • Black olives
  • Red onions (thinly sliced and marinated in water and vinegar)
  • Salt and pepper


  1. Boil the potatoes unpeeled. When they are done cooking, peel and mash them. Mix the lime, 3 tablespoons oil, 1 minced garlic clove, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the mixture to the potatoes and mix thoroughly. Using your hands, make balls of potatoes and let them chill. 
  2. In a blender add feta cheese, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 garlic clove, and onions. Blend adding milk a little at a time. Continue adding milk until the mixture is as thick as a creamy dressing.  Add the turmeric and pepper or aji to taste.  
  3. Place potatoes on a large platter or in individual servings and drizzle dressing on top.  
  4. Before serving, garnish the plate with lettuce, hard-boiled egg slices, olives, and red onions. 

Makes 6 servings

  

Family Cooking Tips:
 
Kids should stand aside as you boil and peel the potatoes, but they’ll love mashing them. They can use a potato masher or fork. They can add in the other ingredients (lime, oil, garlic, salt and pepper) and help you mix.

Kids can use their hands to make the balls of potatoes, as long as it isn’t too hot and their hands are clean. Older kids can help add milk in as your blend the potato mixture with the feta cheese. Let them help you decide when the mixture is the right consistency.

Let kids drizzle the dressing on top of the potatoes and add the garnishes. However, you should slice the eggs and onions.

 

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by Melinda Lilly, illustrated by Charles Reasoner
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Chancay and the Secret of Fire: A Peruvian Folk-tale
by Donald Charles
Peruvian folktale of a brave fisherman who learns to relieve his people from the cold and darkness they face. 

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A family in South America eagerly prepares for the excitement of Carnaval. 

El secreto de la llama: Leyenda peruana / The Llama's Secret: A Peruvian Legend
by Argentina Palacios, illustrated by Charles Reasoner
A Peruvian rendition of the Great Flood story, in which a llama warns the people and animals to seek shelter on Huillcacato to avoid the rising sea, Mamacocha. 

Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato: An Irish Folktale
by Tomie de Paola
The laziest man in all of Ireland catches a leprechaun, who offers a potato seed instead of a pot of gold for his freedom. 

Brave Potatoes
by Toby Speed, illustrated by Barry Root 
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