Peruvian fried rice combines two culinary traditions into one rib-sticking masterpiece.
It’s hard to talk about Peruvian food without some historical context. In 1849, slavery was abolished in Peru, leaving the South American country with a great need for agricultural workers. Chinese laborers flooded into the South American country, resulting in a hybrid cuisine known as chifa, combining Chinese and Peruvian traditions. One of its hallmarks is fried rice or arroz chaufa, a staple you’ll find at literally every Peruvian restaurant in the Valley.
At Los Andes Peruvian Cuisine (losandestogo.com, pictured) in West Phoenix, owner Carlos Urteaga offers arroz chaufa with a choice of shrimp, tilapia, beef, chicken or mixed seafood. Urteaga starts by heating a wok with sesame oil and adding the diner’s protein of choice, along with ginger, garlic, oyster and soy sauces and a hint of Chinese cinnamon, giving it an aromatic quality. In a separate pan, he scrambles eggs in sesame oil, adding scallions along with fragrant Thai jasmine rice, then combines the rice and protein. Urteaga serves the arroz chaufa with a pair of snappy sauces: aji verde, a spicy green chile blend; and a house mayonnaise made with Peruvian yellow peppers and mustard, along with a few “secrets of the house.”
At Inca Fusion in Avondale, you can order arroz chaufa with strips of sirloin, morsels of chicken breast or plump, silver-dollar-size shrimp. Owner Luis Morales suggests trying all three proteins at once, which makes for a mighty filling entrée, but you can order one at a time if that’s your preference. The white rice is wok-fried over fire with soy sauce, garlic, bits of scrambled eggs, chopped scallions and a splash of sesame oil. Morales serves the dish with a side of aji verde that makes the rice pop when mixed in. While you’re there, sip on maracuya, a refreshing passion fruit drink, or chicha morada, a traditional Peruvian drink made from purple corn and flavored with cinnamon and cloves.
El Chullo Peruvian Restaurant & Bar (elchullorestaurant.com) on Seventh Street in Phoenix serves a deconstructed arroz chaufa with an array of protein options – chicken, seafood, shrimp and beef – or mushrooms for folks who want to go meatless. We opted for the shrimp, which were plentiful and buried in the soy sauce-steeped rice along with bursts of ginger, liberal bits of scrambled eggs and diced red bell peppers, all crowned with chopped scallions. The generous portion of rice is offered with aji verde on the side, so make sure to slather the fiery sauce on every bite to get the full Peruvian experience. Be prepared for leftovers.
