"Caigua Rellena"

• • Today I am sharing my recipe for Caigua Rellena (Stuffed Caigua)

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Caigua rellena is a dish that brings back memories, this is one of the few dishes my grandmom enjoyed making and eating. 

Grandma enjoyed cooking but as she aged, you could tell how things changed, most of the food she loved she could not eat anymore and that had a massive impact on her, but this dish brings back memories since I remember seeing her happy as soon as she started talking about it. 

You are going to find different ways to cook “Caigua rellena” and there are many recipes out there, I will share the one my grandma used to cook for us when I was a kid, I tweaked the recipe a bit to help readers that live abroad.

Here are some common questions: 

What is Caigua? 

let’s start with the scientific name Cyclanthera pedata, known by many names (Caigua, Caihua, Achocha, Jaiva, Stuffing cucumber, to mention some); this is the fruit of a plant that is used as a vegetable in most regions.

In Peru, it is also used in smoothies since it has antioxidants.

What is this dish about? 

We stuff our Caiguas, with some sautee veggies, beef, and spices.

Here are some tips to cook Caigua: 

1 – If you get Caigua frozen, blanching it might not be necessary, since it might fall apart if you overcook it. 

2 – Overstuffing the Caigua might not be a good idea, since it might break when trying to plate it (talking from experience here) 

3 – Try to get Caiguas that are the same size, in that way, they might cook all at the same time.