#MeatlessMondays – Chicha Morada Paletas

I don’t think we have a name for paletas in Peru. Either we call the commercial ones by their brand name, like D’onofrio’s “BeBe,”or we use something more general like helado de agua (water ice cream). However, when our friend Ericka Sanchez from Nibbles and Feasts asked us if we had a paleta recipe, we knew we had to do a chicha morada paleta. Why they are not more popular in Peru, we don’t know. They’re such a fun and refreshing idea!

What we do have, and are extremely common in the summer, are some frozen juices stuck in long, narrow plastic bags, that we call chups or marcianos. These can be found in many flavors, or made at home too, using any fruit juice you like. We will definitely have a future post about marcianos, but in the meantime, we had fun creating some pretty and yummie chicha morada and pineapple paletas.

It may be winter in half of the world, but in our country it’s summer right now. I’m here on holidays, running away from the New York City cold, and these colorful paletas are the perfect dessert for these warm days. And so easy to make! Just fill a small cup with 1/3 chicha morada, and put it in the freezer; then add pineapple pieces, and let them freeze; finally add more chicha and freeze again. Somewhere in the middle of that process insert a small stick in the middle, and you have a paleta ready to refresh you and sweeten up your day.