Feels like home: A Peruvian paella born of a love story

Yuriko Sung was born in Lima, Peru, to a family of restaurateurs. She now runs her own catering business fusing Peruvian and international flavours.

Yuriko Sung will never forget her grandma's Peruvian paella. Source: Neeta Lind/Flickr Creative Commons

It was the dancing and laughing of her maternal grandmother, Zonia Soler, while cooking in the kitchen that inspired Yuriko Sung's love of food.

"My great grandfather, Arturo Sung, was a Korean fisherman and cook who had to migrate to Peru for a better life and either ran or worked in restaurants, so food was a big part of family life," says Sung.

When Sung was a child, she remembers hearing stories about her grandfather, Arturo Sung, fuse Peruvian and Asian food, but it was her Peruvian maternal grandmother, Zonia, that was her greatest inspiration, next to her mother, Zonia Carbajal, who also had a gift for cooking.

Yuriko Sung's grandmother, Zonia. Source: Supplied

Sung lived with her grandmother Zonia during her early school years. Every time she smelled her grandmother's cooking she became curious.

"I always wanted to join her in the kitchen but anytime I approached the kitchen bench to help her she would tell me, 'You don't belong in the kitchen yet, you have to do your homework'," remembers Sung.

But Sung would still watch her grandmother make her famous soups, stews and other Peruvian delicacies from scratch, including lentil, pumpkin soup, chicken or beef stew, olluquito root vegetable with beef, and cau cau, a traditional Peruvian stew made with tripe. 

"Watching her instead of studying and seeing how happy she was when cooking also made me happy. This way I also developed a photographic memory of what she was doing and later as a teen I was able to begin replicating her dishes."

Seafood paella weekends

On the provision that she'd finish her homework, grandmother Zonia allowed Sung to accompany her to the farmers' markets at the Port of Callao, a port-side province in Lima, to buy the ingredients for her epic Peruvian seafood paella, which she made for the family every weekend.

Zonia would pick the ingredients and tell Sung about each. "For example, she would hand me over the coriander and say, 'break the root and then smell. Take a moment to feel the aroma and to get to know the coriander by observing its leaves'. It wasn't just about buying it, but about experiencing every single ingredient."

In the fish market, Zonia would assess the fish – their colours, size, smell and how fresh they looked.

"Every single time I learned something new about our vast variety of chillies, four thousand types of potatoes and other local produce, to a point where I could identify with my eyes closed and through my senses alone what each ingredient was," says Sung.

Then, Sung watched her grandmother make Peruvian paella. "I loved watching her dancing while cooking and mostly how she would turn the different varieties of chillies into special sauces used in the paella," says Sung. "I was also told many times the story of this dish while my family gathered at the table."

I loved watching her dancing while cooking and mostly how she would turn the different varieties of chillies into special sauces used in the paella.

While Peruvian paella includes chillies, Sung says it's not too spicy. "It actually looks like an Italian risotto with creamy cheese parmesan, It's the seafood that stands out. The chillies just make the taste bolder."

When her grandmother passed away in 2009, Sung began cooking for her family. She tried to remember her grandmother's dishes.

"I remember one day when nobody was home, I opened the fridge and decided to prepare a meal for my sisters," says Sung.

The first dish that she made was the traditional Peruvian lomo saltado and they loved it. "I followed in my mind exactly how I saw my grandmother cook it and my mum was so surprised as to how close it tasted to that of my grandmother's," says Sung. 

"Equally, when people who knew my grandmother tried my dishes and commented how it tasted very similar to hers, it made me very happy."

Smoky sautéed beef and vegetables.

Beginning my culinary journey

When Sung was in Peru at 23, she studied cooking at the D'Gallia Gastronomic Institute while working part-time in professional kitchens.

"After graduation I felt I had learned traditional cooking from the best restaurants in Peru, so I decided it was time to look for a bigger challenge."

She realised that to learn new cooking techniques and cuisines she had to move overseas, so in 2020, a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic closed Australia's borders, she arrived. During her time in Sydney, she helped entrepreneurs and international hotels develop Peruvian menus and dishes.

When people who knew my grandmother tried my dishes and commented how it tasted very similar to hers, it made me very happy.

Currently, she lives in Melbourne, where she's learning more about Australian culture and new cuisines. 

In 2021, she formed catering service Callao Australia to share Peruvian food and provide employment to people in the hospitality industry impacted by lockdowns.

"Callao Australia catering was born from the impulse to reinvent myself and to promote Peruvian food," says Sung. "Callao Australia offers traditional and contemporary Peruvian food, breaking the barrier of cultures and fusing Peruvian and international flavours."

Dishes include Peruvian ceviche, crispy potatoes with Peruvian hucaina sauce, kingfish sashimi with Peruvian yellow pepper, and Peruvian anticuchos or cow heart kebabs.

Ceviche is a classic Peruvian dish. Source: Donal's Cook, Eat, Burn

Sung gets great pleasure when people say that the dishes she cooks make them feel closer to home. However, she also enjoys cooking fusion food. "As an opening event to celebrate my business, I created a fusion of dishes that included Peruvian and Indigenous Australian ingredients," says Sung.

One such dish was a roasted octopus marinated with Peruvian chillies and Australian native herbs, served with grilled potatoes and two specialty sauces: native Australian lilly pilly and traditional huancaina.    

"The guests included Peruvian diplomats, who were surprised by the combination of flavours but really enjoyed what I had been able to create."

But when Sung has friends over, she makes her grandma's Peruvian paella.

"For a special event I will cook my grandmother's dish because it's for sharing. And when I do cook it, as a tribute to her memory, I always talk about how she liked to take care of people through her cooking.

"Peruvian paella is the dish that's closest to my heart and the memory of my grandmother is always present when I cook."

Love the story? Follow the author here: Twitter @ellijac.

Lead image by Neeta Lind. Body image supplied by Yuriko Sung.

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Peruvian paella

Use a deep pan in a gas stove to speed up the cooking process. You can cook this dish with an electric stove as well, but it will take twice as long.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 tsp oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 4 scallop’s pieces 
• 200 g prawn
• 100 g squid
• 100 g cooked octopus
• 100 g mussels
• ⅛ cup white wine
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 tbsp garlic
• 2 chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp aji panca
• 8 tbsp aji amarillo
• ½ cup fish fumet
• 500 g cooked long-grain rice
• ½ red capsicum
• ¾ cup cooked peas
• 3 tbsp shredded parmesan cheese
• coriander
• salt

Method

1. Heat a pan over a low heat, add the oil.
2. Add the butter to melt, then add chopped onion and fry lightly.
3. Add the garlic and fry lightly.
4. Add the chopped tomato and mix. 
5. Add the 2 types of Peruvian peppers (aji amarillo and aji panca). 
6. Mix and fry for a few minutes.
7. Add the white wine to the mix and let it evaporate.
8. Add the fumet and salt.
9. Mix together.
10. Add the seafood (squid, scallops, prawn, squid and octopus) and mix carefully.
11. Let reduce for a few minutes. 
12. Put the scallops aside, away from heat.
13. Add the cooked rice and mix.
14. Add the red capsicum, peas and mix.
15. Add the coriander and shredded parmesan cheese.
16. Mix together.
17. Serve and use the shells as decoration. 
18. Put shredded parmesan cheese on top.