Recipe of «Choritos a la Chalaca», typical dish of the port of Callao

Know that Callao in Quechua means «younger brother» and the name «mussels to chalaca» comes from the word «chalaco», with which he is called to a person born in Callao, and in turn derives from the Quechua word «Challa», which in Spanish is «chala» named so to the Coast region, one of eight natural regions of our country, according to the thesis of the Peruvian geographer Javier Pulgar Vidal.

This dish prepared in the own valve of the mussles, is macerated in lemon juice. For its easy and quick preparation, it can be served as a piqueo at social gatherings, or as entry into any marine menu.

Also, the mussels are widely used in other shellfish seafood dishes such as mussels soup, rice with mussels, spicy seafood, among others.

Preparing Choritos a la Chalaca:

Ingredients:

1 dozen mussels
6 lemons
1 white onion
2 tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine
1 fresh yellow peppers
1 hot pepper
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 cup cooked shelled corn
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Wash the mussels well. Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Allow to marinate for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the sauce that is to chop the onion into small cubes and add the lemon juice.
After, add the red pepper, chopped hot pepper, parsley and salt to taste.
To this mix put shelled corn, a little oil and let stand for a few minutes.
Finally, place the sauce in each shell and serve.
This dish is accompanied with popcorn of mountain.

In the following video, you can have another idea of ​​how this dish the main seaport of Peru is prepared:

(Source: comidaperuana.about.com, deleite-portal.blogspot.com, es.wikipedia.org; Video: Youtube-zoylaM)