The Veracity Of Val

Chef Val Chang’s command of the kitchen is assertive and straightforward but ask her where her heart lies when choosing home and you’ll witness an uncharacteristic hesitation.

“Oh, I’m split. I’m a split!” the 31-year-old confesses. “I mean, when it comes to my home, my every day, it’s here, it’s Miami – there’s no other place like Miami. But when it’s sentimental, and my childhood, and my memories, I think of Peru,” she explains.

Chang prides herself in her immigrant roots. Born in Chiclayo, Peru, she was raised by her paternal grandmother along with her older brother Nando, while her father Fernando came to the U.S. searching for a better life. When she was 10 and Nando was 13, they joined him in Miami. Her father worked in a restaurant kitchen, and, because he could not afford a babysitter, would bring his kids along. Before long, her love of cooking began to form.

“He was making sushi and I would be frying things and starting sauces,” she recounts.

Opportunity came knocking for the Changs to start their own business when they opened a counter in St. Roch Market (now Politan Row) in Miami’s Design District in 2018. The venue, called Itamae, became an instant success, celebrated for its creative and fresh Nikkei (a fusion of Japanese and Peruvian) cuisine and earning Val and Nando the coveted title of first sister-brother duo named semifinalists for a James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: South.

In 2020 they opened their first brick-and-mortar spot just steps from where they first started out. The bigger space offered the opportunity for a more expansive menu, and eventually, the trio, affectionately referred to as “the Chang Gang” opened B-Side in Wynwood’s thriving Asian food hall, 1-800-Lucky.

When asked what makes her cuisine one of the most celebrated in town, her reply is refreshingly uncomplicated and honest.

“Maybe because we are so authentic to ourselves and we cook as we’re really cooking for ourselves and we have a lot of flavors. Usually, here they learn to tone it down a bit and we add fish sauce – even if it is salty – even if it is a little bit sour, we want people to feel the flavors just like we do back home. We’re cooking, trying to get as close as we could to home. And I think that really helps us out, and people can feel that. You can feel the intention,” Chang says.

Chang’s intention is taking a new direction now with her latest venue, Maty’s, which is named after her paternal grandmother. The restaurant, just minutes from Itamae, focuses on traditional Peruvian food — dishes she was raised on.

“I don’t want to reinvent the plate. I want to incorporate originality, I want to incorporate the farmers [by using local produce], but I really want to try to respect the dish as close as I can to what my grandmothers taught me,” Chang says.

She explains that, while the restaurant is named after her paternal grandmother, dishes from her maternal grandmother Emma — also a phenomenal cook — will be featured as well.

“We’re going to have a Cabrita Norteño, which is a goat stew, the way my grandma made the beans. We’re going to have a “guisado,” which translates to a stew of chicken. There’s going to be a lot of stews, some that my maternal grandma taught me. The whole pickle program will be inspired by my maternal grandmother. It’s really both of them.”

There will even be a dish that dates back to her great-grandmother, the Yuca Rellena made with Wagyu strip, olives and raisins.

Struggling with the late stages of Alzheimer’s, Chang can only speculate on how her grandmother Maty would respond to having a restaurant named after her.

“I think she would be honored that it’s in her name,” Chang says before adding, “She would be very shy about it,” explaining that, coming from Chinese descent, the message was a simple one: to work hard and find success.

Chang has embraced this same ethos, while remembering, thanking and honoring her grandmother, whose signature she has tattooed on her right arm (her grandmother Emma’s, she adds, will soon make an appearance on her left arm).

“This is just an ode to every woman in my family who came before me and all the sacrifices they made and all the recipes they kept and passed on to us. I hope to pass this on to my children.

It’s a way of keeping our story, our culture alive.” 

Yuca Rellena

(Recipe adapted by Alona Abbady Martinez)

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 pounds fresh yuca, peeled and cut into 3-inch rounds

1 pound cubed sirloin

1 red onion, minced

¼  cup pitted Peruvian Botija olives (Note: can substitute with kalamata olives)

3 garlic cloves, peeled and minced

2 teaspoons ají amarillo paste

1 teaspoon ají panca paste

¼ cup golden raisins, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes, then drained

3 teaspoons salt

2½ tablespoons parsley, chopped

½ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup canola oil 

Process

• Place yuca in a large pot, cover with cold water and add 2 teaspoons salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to medium and simmer for 30 minutes, until yuca is tender but not mushy.

• In an oven set to 350°F, put cooked yuca on a tray and let dry until no longer moist, 10-15 minutes.

• While the yuca is still hot, press through potato ricer.

• Heat 2 tablespoons of canola oil in large pan over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté until golden, 5-7 minutes.

• Add both ají pastes and sauté another 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

• Fold parsley, olives and raisins into the mix (called sofrito).

• In a separate skillet, heat up 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat and cook sirloin, mixing often, for 5-7 minutes.

• Remove meat from heat and let it cool down. Once cooled, fold into sofrito mix.

• Add flour to a bowl.

• In a skillet heat up remaining canola oil on medium-high heat.

• Using your hands, grab approximately ¼ cup of the yuca mix and form a dent in the center with your thumb.

• Spoon in 1-2 tablespoons of sirloin inside dent.

• Cover with more yuca mix and shape into an egg form.

• Dredge the yuca rellena in a light coat of flour, making sure to pat any of the excess off.

• Drop into oil and let fry until golden brown, 5 minutes.

• Blot on a sheet tray lined with paper towel before serving.