At Malabar restaurant in Lima, Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino has made it
his mission to introduce Peruvians to the Amazon’s wealth of ingredients.
Applying his European training to indigenous jungle products like fresh hearts of palm,
the pea-sized pepper known as ají charapita, and the cocona,
a tart fruit nicknamed “the tomato of the jungle,”
Chef Schiaffino has created a cuisine that is uniquely his own.
In the kitchen of his restaurant, Chef Schiaffino has gathered some
of the Amazonian products that he showcases on his groundbreaking menu.
[Chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino speaking] In Lima or in the Andes, and the coast,
the main ingredient for the our season, our sofrito,
or — how do you say in English? — Yeah, our sofrito or seasoning....
....is yellow chilli pepper, no? That's, for me, this is....
I can travel anywhere in the world and I will do Peruvian food with ají amarillo, you know?
If I don't have this, it's difficult to do Peruvian cuisine. So....
But the Amazon they use one root that was introduced....
....that is called "palijo" or "corcoma."
Corcoma, along with Achiote — those are those red seeds.... are....
.....along with this herb that is the culantro,
are the base for the Amazonian seasoning.
Along with the garlic and also the onion, so....
They have the their own season seasoning or sofrito or base for preparing their food,
that is totally different from the rest of Peru. So, that's also very interesting.
What I have — the king of the of the chilies from the Amazon.
This is called "charapita." I love these chili because it
is the perfect hotness and it's very, very aromatic.
If you squeeze it, you automatically will feel the aroma of it.
It's a.... You can make a nice hot sauce like Tobasco,
that is very unique with this. It's very interesting.
And that combination of these three.... (...sometimes plus onions)
....makes the Amazonian salsa.
This is cocona. Cocona is a fruit related to tomato,
and it's a fruit that will spread over the Amazon.
It's already well-spread in line in Lima,
and this fruit has a very balanced acid flavor and that makes it very interesting to make salsa.
Like onion salsa, you make cocona salsa. You can make ceviche tiradito with this.
It's very interesting. You can make juices, you can make ice cream.
And this chile here, Capsicum chinense, it's called Ají Limo.
This is also with this chili, for me, and well, I.... All of them.... (laughs)
I like it to make ceviche with this. This is the perfect chili to make ceviche.
It gives you the perfect hotness and a lot of aroma and, uh.....
It's cool. It's very, very, very nice chile.
And this is also in the family of Ají Limo. Another type. We have different colors.
But this is hotter,
Some root.... tubers or roots. These are tubers from the Amazon. This is Mashua.
This is used in the Andes, many ways.
Desserts and bread or stew or even Pachamanca is where you find it. It's a....
The flavor — kind of like a sweet.... Between a sweet potato and a.....
It has a unique flavor, but between a sweet potato and a carrot, I can say.
And this is called oka. This is another tuber. Very nice.
Has a unique flavor similar to Mashua, but more pronounced.
It's different, no? Some potatoes. We call them now native potatoes.
This is one of the native potatoes we have. You already know
is a year of the potato. We have as many of us 300 varieties. This is a yellow potato.
This good for making Causa. Is unique because of....
Well, now I think it's grown in Spain and in the States, I think.
They're already growing this in somewhere, I don't know....
But it's typical for Peru. Native from Peru.
And this is the heart of palm. Heart of palm that we can see here shredded.
We can say that we have, like, eight types of palm,
that we take that the heart of it....
And the most common one and the more abundant,
or the one that has more core or center or heart....
....is the Açaí palm. From the Açaí, in the Amazon, all these palms, they are used....
They use their fruits, they use the inside, they use the leaves, they use the bark....
They use everything from that palm. It's very interesting.
It's very good for the economy of the Amazon.
[Narrator] With this treasure-trove of raw materials, Chef Schiaffino produces such signature dishes
as Amazonian catfish on a purée of yuca with shredded hearts of palm and river snails.
His elegant dining room is the perfect place to sample cutting-edge Peruvian cooking.