Nick Paine's Exotic Kitchen Recipes

Sarapatera Pevas, Peruvian Amazon

A large 60 to 100-pound freshwater turtle is cut and prepared. The shell is cleaned and salted, placed over hot coals, and used as a cooking vessel for an exotic stew of the turtle meat, mashed bananas, sweet peppers, and cilantro. My Indian sources tell me that this dish is at least 600 years old, predating Spanish occupation. Remote tribes still prepare this dish today, but it is slowly disappearing.