Limenian desserts: try the “champuz”

Officially, we are in fall, but this year the weather is still nicely warm and sunny. Anyway, in Lima you never know, and one of these mornings temperatures will start to go down. And by then you will surely want to try an old half beverage, half dessert, very typical Limenian thing; the “champuz”.

Boiling Champuz. (Photo: MariaCecita/Flickr)

Almost pudding-like, prepared basically with corn flour, soursop and/or pineapple, it is still one of the most traditional Limenian desserts during winters’ foggy and drizzly afternoons. You will love its sweet, spicy fruit aromas. Ask for it to your Peruvian friends or at the local popular markets, since each year that passes by it gets harder and harder to find it. A good place to find it is the Parque de Miraflores (Miraflores central park, also called Kennedy Park), where it is sold at some authorized sandwich and beverages stalls.

Food stall offering sandwiches and champuz. (Photo: Nick Wiesner)

But you do need to come to Lima only to try this! You can prepare it at home, here we are presenting a recipe, courtesy of Sabores del Perú.

1 soursop
1 “membrillo” (a Peruvian fruit) and/or 1 apple
1 lime
2 pineapple slices
5 cups of water
1/2 cup of sugar
1 cup of corn flour
1 cup of Andean white corn (peeled)
cinammon sticks
ground cinammon
cloves

Boil the fruits with cinammon, cloves and sugar; once it’s cooked, add the corn and the corn flour, previously mixed with cold water. Stir constantly and then add the soursop (in small seedless pieces) and a few drops of lime juice. Serve it veryhot with ground cinammon.

Here you have a very similar recipe on video! Courtesy of Instituto de los Andes. Sorry it’s in Spanish, but with the images you will easily pick the ingredients. Bon Appetit!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vs6NHDmnXI]

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