P A P A • R E L L E N A

Peruvian potato croquettes, stuffed with meat, olives, boiled egg and spices. This is a traditional meal that Peruvians and tourists alike love for its carb and meat sensation.

Papa rellena (pronounced papa rayena) is one of those foods that you want to hate because it is so carby, but can't help loving because it is so carby. Yep, I'm not afraid to admit that I love carbs. And Peruvians eat this with mountains of fluffy white rice, although I usually opt out of this one, or at least try to. This meal oozes warmth and fills you up so that you are full to the brim with no extra space for dessert, even though I almost always have Picarones after (which I'll discuss in another post). Distasteful to eat that much food, I know, but while you're in Peru you might as well because it is so darn good, even the rice!

This photo is one of my own creations that I attempted after volunteering at SKIP, where I first encountered Papas Rellenas as street food. Open to food suggestions, this Peruvian delicacy instantly became a favourite of mine. Albeit the real deal looks slightly different as it does not feature such chunky red peppers, and the onions are marinated in lime juice giving it that extra flavour, but it is fairly similar.

Papas rellenas can be filled with anything but the main source is meat, usually mince although I have eaten it with chicken. I would definitely recommend the meatier version as it has more flavour and combines better together with the boiled egg and black olives. Some Peruvians include raisins too, just for a laugh.

You can find papa rellena very easily as street food and actually I don't see it offered in many restaurants. This is probably due to the enormous effort it takes to make... boiling and mashing the potatoes, boiling the eggs, cooking the mince with the spices and olives, then preparing the potato and stuffing it with all the ingredients before finally deep frying it in a pan. I am exhausted just thinking about it!

Street food however, if you have a strong stomach, is one of the greatest places to find Peruvian papa rellena because it is prepared from scratch and you can watch it being made, not only this but it really gives you the opportunity to experience and immerse yourself into the culture. The food being made on the street is not fancified to impress you but provides you with real food that real people eat every day and the price is as cheap as it gets in Peru, and that's pretty cheap! If you are visiting Peru, definitely hunt down the nearest street food cart to get a taste of one of these papas rellenas as it doesn't get much better than this!

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you visit again soon.