Chilean Charquican

I am missing my time that I spent in South America...the people, the food, the freedom, just to name a few...So, what better way to help solve that problem/make it worse  :P than to cook one of my favorite dishes from down there!

Just a little background...Charqui is a form of a dry meat that Chileans used in the dish.  (I used tofu in mine, so don't worry, I am sticking to my roots) Before I go too much into the background, check out this site which has a great explanation of the dish and where I got a memory kick for remembering how my host mom cooked the dish.

http://eatingchile.blogspot.com/2009/06/charquican-tomatican-and-other-cans_11.html

Charquican

Serves 3

1/2 onion diced
1 T. oil
1/4 block tofu cubed
1 medium potato cooked and cubed
1 15 oz can peas
1 C. corn
1/2 - 1 can pumpkin puree
1 t. salt (more or less according to flavor)
1 small roasted green chili chopped (for a bit of an american flare with some spice)
1 t. ground cumin
1 t. ground pepper
1 t. dried oregano

1. In a large frying pan, heat the oil.  Add the diced onion and saute until translucent.
2. (The original recipe calls for carrots...I forgot to add them, so in this step you could saute a chopped medium carrot with the onion)
3. Add the cubed tofu and continue to saute until the tofu starts to brown.
4. Add the peas, corn, and pumpkin puree.  Stir to combine and heat until warm.
5. Add the salt, chili, cumin, and pepper.  Stir until thoroughly combined.  Continue to cook until everything is HOT!

Serve with fresh bread and enjoy!