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Edelmira Quispe

Family dinners from a short shelf of staples

I'm Edelmira. I cook everyday family dinners in my kitchen in Urubamba, and I sell printable lists, planners and soup books and two video courses.

Home cook

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A family dinner table set with home-cooked dishes

The shelf

Twelve staples, and the family dinners each one turns up in.

Pick a piece to see what uses it

Native potatoes Boiled, stewed or fried, they are the base of most dinners at our table in 9 dinners. In the staples list

Chuño Freeze-dried potato that keeps for years and thickens a soup in 1 dinner.

Quinoa Cooks in 15 minutes and fills a pot of soup or a plate beside the stew in 2 dinners. In the soup book

Choclo Large-kernel corn, boiled on the cob or cut off for a plate with cheese in 1 dinner.

Dried broad beans Soaked overnight, then simmered for stews and soups that last the week in 2 dinners.

Ají amarillo A yellow chilli with a fruity heat, ground for sauces and stirred into stews in 6 dinners.

Huacatay A green herb like black mint, ground into sauces or stirred into soup in 3 dinners.

Onions Cooked slowly first, they start nearly every dinner in 11 dinners.

Eggs Fried, boiled or stirred into a soup, they finish many dinners in 5 dinners. In the card set

Fresh cheese Cut in cubes for a soup or a plate, or folded into an empanada in 5 dinners.

Chicken One bird makes a stew for six, and the bones make the broth in 2 dinners.

Rice Plain beside a stew or cooked in the sauce, it fills the table in 3 dinners.

The dinners

Every dinner is made from the shelf, and each one names the staples it uses.

  1. A family dinner table set with home-cooked dishes

    50 min

    Stewed chicken in yellow ají sauce

    Uses chicken, ají amarillo, onions, rice and potatoes. One big pot for six, served with rice.

    • Chicken
    • Ají amarillo
    • Onions
    • Rice
    • Native potatoes
  2. A pot of Andean soup simmering on the stove

    45 min

    Quinoa and vegetable soup for the table

    Uses quinoa, potatoes, onions and huacatay. A big pot of soup on the wood stove, enough for six bowls.

    • Quinoa
    • Native potatoes
    • Onions
    • Huacatay
  3. A basket of native potatoes and corn on a doorstep

    35 min

    Boiled potatoes with cheese and ají sauce

    Uses native potatoes, fresh cheese, ají amarillo and eggs. The potatoes boil while the sauce is made.

    • Native potatoes
    • Fresh cheese
    • Ají amarillo
    • Eggs
  4. Hands folding pastries on a floured board

    60 min

    Cheese empanadas folded at the board

    Uses fresh cheese, onions, eggs and ají amarillo. Folded by hand on a floured board and baked until golden.

    • Fresh cheese
    • Onions
    • Eggs
    • Ají amarillo
  5. Hands ladling soup into a clay bowl

    45 min

    Chuño soup with an egg

    Uses chuño, potatoes, eggs, onions and huacatay. A thick soup for a cold evening, with an egg stirred in at the end.

    • Chuño
    • Native potatoes
    • Eggs
    • Onions
    • Huacatay
  6. Hands peeling native potatoes into a bowl

    30 min

    Rice, fried eggs and sliced potatoes

    Uses rice, eggs, potatoes and onions. The plain dinner the children ask for most.

    • Rice
    • Eggs
    • Native potatoes
    • Onions
  7. Edelmira stirring a pot at her small stove

    70 min

    Broad bean stew with potatoes

    Uses dried broad beans, potatoes, onions and ají amarillo. The beans soak overnight, then simmer for an hour.

    • Dried broad beans
    • Native potatoes
    • Onions
    • Ají amarillo
  8. Hands grinding chillies and herbs in a stone mortar

    15 min

    Ají and huacatay sauce from the stone mortar

    Uses ají amarillo, huacatay, onions and fresh cheese. Ground by hand in 10 minutes, and good on anything boiled.

    • Ají amarillo
    • Huacatay
    • Onions
    • Fresh cheese
  9. An Andean valley village at dawn with smoke rising

    30 min

    Choclo with fresh cheese and broad beans

    Uses choclo, fresh cheese, dried broad beans and onions. A simple plate for the table, ready in 30 minutes.

    • Choclo
    • Fresh cheese
    • Dried broad beans
    • Onions
  10. A pot of Andean soup simmering on the stove

    50 min

    Chicken and quinoa soup

    Uses chicken, quinoa, potatoes and onions. 50 minutes, and the broth is better the next day.

    • Chicken
    • Quinoa
    • Native potatoes
    • Onions
  11. A family dinner table set with home-cooked dishes

    30 min

    Potato and cheese omelette for six

    Uses potatoes, eggs, fresh cheese and onions. 30 minutes in one pan, good hot or cold.

    • Native potatoes
    • Eggs
    • Fresh cheese
    • Onions
  12. A printed recipe booklet beside a bowl of quinoa

    35 min

    Potatoes and ají in one pot

    Uses potatoes, ají amarillo, onions and rice. 35 minutes, and my first dinner from the shelf.

    • Native potatoes
    • Ají amarillo
    • Onions
    • Rice

Newsletter

Latest dinners

A new family dinner every Friday, each one made from the shelf.

Recipe

Quinoa and vegetable soup for the table

A pot of Andean soup simmering on the stove
Prep
15 min
Cook
35 min
Total
50 min
Serves
Serves 6

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 1 tbsp ají amarillo paste, or 1 yellow chilli, seeded and chopped
  • 6 small native potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1 cup (200 g) quinoa, rinsed well
  • 1 corn cob (choclo), cut in rounds
  • 8 cups (2 litres) water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • A handful of huacatay or coriander, chopped

To serve

  • Fresh cheese, in cubes
  • A boiled egg for each bowl (optional)

Method

  1. Warm the oil in a large pot over a medium heat. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook for 8 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft.
  2. Add the garlic and the ají paste and stir for 1 minute, until it smells good.
  3. Pour in the water and add the potatoes, the corn and the rest of the salt. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
  4. Add the quinoa and simmer for 15 minutes more, until the potatoes are soft and the quinoa has opened into little spirals. Add a splash of water if it gets too thick.
  5. Stir in the huacatay, taste and add salt if it needs it. Ladle into bowls and put a few cubes of cheese in each one. It is better the next day, so make extra.

Online course

My course

Downloads, a course and merch

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An Andean valley village at dawn with smoke rising

About

About me

I am 71 and I live in Urubamba, in the Sacred Valley of Peru. My kitchen is a small adobe room with a wood-fired stove, and I have cooked family dinners there since 1974. Almost everything I make comes from the same dozen things: native potatoes, chuño (potatoes freeze-dried in the mountain cold), quinoa, choclo (large-kernel corn), dried broad beans, ají amarillo, huacatay (a green herb like black mint), onions, eggs, fresh cheese, chicken and rice. I am not a chef and I have never wanted to be one.

Every Friday I write a short letter with one family dinner made from the shelf. It says which staples the dinner uses and how long it takes, and every dinner is for a table of several, because that is how we eat. Over a year the same dozen things turn up in a lot of different dinners, and you start to cook without looking anything up.

What I sell is what I use: the list of what I keep, a planner for the week, a sheet for the market, a guide for a big Sunday pot and a book of soups, plus two video courses. I do not run classes or cook for events. I help you cook from your own shelf in your own kitchen.

Questions

How do the downloads arrive?

After checkout you receive an email with a download link, and the same link is shown on the confirmation page. Every file is a PDF made to print on ordinary A4 or Letter paper.

How do the video courses work?

You pay once and the lessons appear in your account straight away. Watch them in order or jump around, as often as you like, on a phone, a tablet or a laptop.

Is there merch?

Yes: aprons, totes, mugs and tea towels with my own designs. Each is printed to order and shipped to you, and the cost and delivery time show at checkout.

Do I need to be a good cook?

No. Most of the dinners are one pot and a few steps, and the first course starts with how to stock the shelf. If you can chop an onion and light a stove, you can begin.

Can I find these staples where I live?

Most of them, yes: potatoes, corn, beans, onions, eggs, cheese, chicken and rice. For chuño, ají amarillo and huacatay, every dinner names an everyday swap.