Eating Paiche Fish in Iquitos: Amazonian Food from Peru

Come join us we try our first Amazonian food in Iquitos, Peru. We order Paiche, a local fish, along with fried plantains (baduros fritos), yucca fritas (yucca fries) and drink cocona juice. Overall, it is a glorious feast.
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Eating Paiche Fish Peruvian Cuisine in Iquitos: Amazonian Food from Peru Travel Video Transcript:
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So we have finally made it to the Amazon Jungle and we are starting our trip out in Iquitos. It is lunchtime right now and we are starving from a full day of travel. So we found a little place. It is called, what is the name of this, the Yellow Rose of Texas, which I know does not sound very Peruvian but they specialize in food from the Amazon region. We've ordered some paiche which is a traditional fish from this area and we are going to be having it two different ways so the food will be coming soon.
So Sam over here has been pretty excited about trying paiche ever since my Grandma told him about it. About this fish from the jungle. So what can you tell us about it?
Yeah, so I've been researching a little bit online about it. So it is native to the Amazon which is really cool and it is a huge fish. In fact, it is one of the biggest freshwater fish in the world. It can grow up to three meters in length. Gracias.
And something else really cool is that it is called a bony tongue fish and its tongue is thought to have medicinal properties by natives so. I wonder what kind of properties. Yeah.
So for our beverage we asked the waitress what is a traditional juice we can have and she suggested cocona. Yeah, cocona.
So now my dish is here and I'm going to be trying something called patarashca de paiche. And if you take a look at my plate it is basically the paiche served as a fillet. It has been cooked, kind of like steamed in this leaf, and on top of the fish you can see some onions, tomatoes and it also has a little bit of cilantro. We've got some lime here which we can try and squeeze. Squeeze that on. That is a little messy. I got most of it on my fingers like lotion. And then I also have this spicy aji sauce.
So you know how we ordered a juice of cocona. This is the fruit it is made with. And they've also used it to make a spicy aji. So this is like a spicy sauce but then it also has the same fruit in it.
That is really good. You know, we were saying the paiche was a little bit chewy with the chicharron. The fried one. But it is so soft if you have it steamed. Like it just breaks apart with your fork. And I really like that you can taste the cilantro because that is one of my favorite spices ever. Or herbs rather. Going in for a second bite. That is how we know it is good. That is wonderful. Loving it.
So the paiche chicharron. So I've just got myself a piece here. And as you can see it is breaded and it is just time to try that.
It really is. It's something in between the texture of a fish and a piece of chicken. It's really unique. I guess it is quite a large fish so the meat is probably a bit tougher for that reason. And it came with some red onions. Yeah. Which I love.
But over there in the back we have maduros fritos. And maduros fritos are basically like plantain. Like sweet ripe plantain that has been sliced and fried. I can't wait to try this.
Oh. Wow! Wow! That is amazing. Really really sweet and it is not crispy at all. It is fried just so that you kind of think it brings out more of the sweetness of the plantain. It is almost a little bit caramelized. It is. I mean this almost feels like I'm having like a little bit of dessert with my fish.
We almost forgot the Yucca fries. Yeah, so this came with the Chicharrón. We were able to order a side. And yucca, it is kind of like a root. A very fibrous root almost like a potato and it is yellow and it is cooked fried here. It is really good.
They are like almost like wedges. They are super thick fries. Bigger than our fingers. It goes really well with the paiche for sure.
So this is what we call the sign of a satisfying meal. Empty plates. We sure took care of that. This was my first time trying food from the Amazon. Food from the Peruvian jungle.
This is part of our Travel in Brazil video series showcasing Brazilian food, Brazilian culture and Brazilian cuisine.
Music in this video courtesy of Audio Network