Pachamanca, also known as cooking in the ground

Peru is supposedly world famous for their amazing and delicious food. I shouldn't say supposedly, because it really is true. It just isn't true for those of us who live in the middle of nowhere in impoverished areas and eat nothing but potatoes. But out here in the campo, we do have a very special and well known dish. A famous typical Peruvian dish that comes from the mountains is called "pachamanca". It's a traditional dish and the name is actually in Quechua meaning “earth’s cooking pot”. It's called this because pachamanca is literally cooked by heating hot rocks and burying them along with the food in the earth and then letting it cook. This might sounds a bit odd and scary but I promise that it’s very delicious!

Pachamanca usually consists of any type of meat (such as pork, chicken, beef, sheep, or guinea pig-if it’s a really special occasion or you are eating at a restaurant, at least two types of meat are prepared), potatoes, sweet potatoes, aves (not sure what that would be in English but it’s basically very large green beans) and corn. If you aren’t wealthy, pachamanca generally consists of just beef and potatoes. It is generally served for special occasions and the Peruvians just LOVE it. It’s like pizza in the US. For example, if you ask a Peruvian kid from the mountains what he wants for his birthday lunch or dinner, he will usually always respond PACHAMANCA!

Pachamanca is an ancient Peruvian mountain tradition that the people are very proud of and love to prepare and enjoy together :) 

I recently went to a community's anniversary celebration on one of the mountain tops in Huallanca's district and of course, pachamanca was served so I wanted to share some photos of the cooking process:  

Digging up the pachamanca after it had cooked for a few hours with the hot rocks in the ground. 

This is how it cooks with the hot rocks.

Taking out the pachamanca

Serving the pachamanca-from the ground to the plate!

People patiently waiting for their pachamanca 

The finished product

Enjoying pachamanca with my dear little friend Sumi

It wouldn't be my blog without some photos of adorable kids :)