Recipe: Peruvian style vizcaina tuna | Video

When I was growing up, Easter was about chocolate bunnies and family time around smelly fish. Now that I'm thirty, I'm part of the smelly fish crowd and I don't get chocolate bunnies. But I have no complaints, I love sharing table time with the people I care most about. Español aquí.

This week's recipe is very special to me because it's a recipe that my grandmother shared with my mother, and that now she has shared with me. My favorite thing about it is that the ingredients are natural (except for the canned tuna) and easy to find wherever you may be.


Because I enjoy reading a little about the recipes that I share, here is what I learned about vizcaina. This dish originates in the Spaniard Basque region (feel free to correct me). Traditionally it involves a pepper sauce and fish, mainly codfish. In Peru and other countries that have adopted the recipe, we add tomatoes and other regional ingredients. This is an favorite in Peru during Easter as well as Escabeche.

Ingredients
1 ½ cup of chickpeas
2 cans of tuna 170 grs (120 grs drained)
1 onion minced
4 to 6 cloves garlic peeled and minced
2 to 3 tomatoes peeled and seedless
1 pepper in slivers
2 tablespoons of dried mushrooms
2 to 3 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
Oil

Preparation
Soak the chickpeas in water overnight. The next morning, drain and rinse them.

Bring to boil in a large pot with plenty of water.

Cook in abundant water for three hours or until the chickpeas are soft. My mother recommends changing the water after the first boil.

Drain the chickpeas and set the water aside.

Crush the tomatoes and dried mushrooms.

Heat the same pot with oil.

Sauté the garlic and onion.

Incorporate the tomatoes and mushrooms, and salt and pepper.

Mix in the chickpeas.

Add the pepper and bay leaves.

Incorporate the tuna.

Mix everything well.

Serve with rice or potatoes cooked.

Serves 4 to 6 people.