Mushroom saltado (Peruvian stir-fry with fries)
Peru’s famous stir-fry made with seared mushrooms, onions and juicy tomatoes in a tangy soy sauce, tossed with crispy fries and served with rice.
- 40 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $3.97 a serving
- 760 calories
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- 3 cups frozen French fries
- 12 oz baby bella mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 1 red onion, cut into thick wedges
- 3 Roma tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeño, seeded and thinly sliced
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
From your pantry
- 1½ cups water
- ½ tsp salt, divided
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 760 calories, 18 g protein, 127 g carbs and 22 g fat, and costs about $3.97 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No jasmine rice? Long-grain white rice or basmati rice works.
- No baby bella mushrooms? White mushrooms work.
- No red onions? White onions or yellow onions work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice, then bring it with the water and ¼ teaspoon salt in a over high heat.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
High heat
Stir once, cover, turn to low and cook 15 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 15 min
Air fry the fries at 400°F until and , 15 to 18 minutes, shaking the basket halfway.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Crispy. Crispy means the outside is dry, firm and crunchy. It comes from high heat, a little oil and room in the pan, because crowded food steams and goes soft.
How you’ll know: It sounds crunchy when you tap or bite it, and it doesn’t flop when you lift it.
Timer: 16 min
Meanwhile, the mushrooms, cut the onion and tomatoes into wedges, the garlic and slice the jalapeño.
Slice. Slicing means cutting food into flat pieces of about the same thickness. Even slices cook evenly, so none are raw while others burn.
How you’ll know: Lay a few side by side: they’re close to the same thickness from one end to the other.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Heat the oil in a large over high heat until it . Add the mushrooms in one layer and leave them for 3 minutes to , then stir and cook 2 minutes more.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Shimmering oil. Oil shimmers when it’s hot enough to cook: its surface looks rippled and wavy, like heat over a road. That’s your cue to add the food, just before the oil would start to smoke.
How you’ll know: The oil looks wavy and runs thin like water when you tilt the pan, with no smoke yet.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
High heatTimer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: A crowded pan steams the mushrooms. If they don’t fit in one layer, brown them in two batches.Add the onion and for 2 minutes, until it at the edges but still has crunch. Add the garlic, jalapeño and cumin for 30 seconds.
Stir-fry. Stir-frying means cooking small pieces fast over high heat in a little oil, stirring almost constantly. It moves quickly, so have everything chopped and ready before the pan gets hot.
How you’ll know: It sizzles loudly the whole time, and the vegetables turn bright and tender-crisp in minutes.
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
High heatTimer: 2 min
Pour in the soy sauce and vinegar, add the tomatoes, pepper and ¼ teaspoon salt, and for 1 minute, just until the tomatoes are warm.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
High heat
Turn off the heat, in the fries and cilantro, and serve right away with the rice.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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