Ají de gallina

Ingredients

Chicken

• 1 kgchicken breast on the bone, or 1 small boiling hen
• 1onion, halved
• 2garlic cloves
• 1carrot
• 1celery stick
• 1.5 litreswater
• 2 tspsalt

Sauce

• 150 gají amarillo paste (from about 6 fresh ají amarillo, deseeded and boiled in 3 changes of water, then blended)
• 2red onions, blended to a purée
• 6garlic cloves, crushed
• 80 mlvegetable oil
• 4 slicesstale white bread (about 120 g), crusts off
• 250 mlevaporated milk
• 80 gwalnuts or pecans
• 50 ggrated parmesan or dry queso fresco
• ½ tspground turmeric (palillo)

To serve

• 600 gyellow potatoes, boiled and sliced 1 cm thick
• 400 gcooked white rice
• 2hard-boiled eggs, quartered
• 8black botija olives

Directions

1. Poach the chicken with the aromatics and salt for 25 minutes, then cool it in the broth. Shred it by hand along the grain into thick threads, never chop it. Keep 500 ml of the broth.
2. Fry the blended onion and garlic in the oil over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the raw smell has gone and the purée has darkened. This is the aderezo, the base of almost every Peruvian sauce.
3. Add the ají amarillo paste and cook, stirring, for 8–10 minutes, until the oil separates and runs bright orange at the edges. This is the step people rush and should not.
4. Soak the bread in the evaporated milk for 5 minutes, then blend it with the nuts until completely smooth and stir it into the pan with the turmeric.
5. Loosen with the reserved broth to a thick, coating sauce and simmer gently for 5–10 minutes, stirring, until it naps the back of a spoon.
6. Take the pan off direct heat, stir in the cheese and the shredded chicken and warm through for 5 minutes without letting it boil.
7. Check the seasoning. It should taste rich and nutty, gently hot, faintly sweet, and clearly of ají rather than of chilli heat.
8. Lay the sliced potatoes on warm plates, spoon the ají over generously, and finish with rice, egg quarters and olives.

Technique

• Ají amarillo is fruity and floral rather than fierce. Deveining the pods and boiling them in three changes of water strips bitterness and heat while keeping the perfume; jarred or frozen paste has already had this done.
• The thickener is bread and nuts, not flour or cream. The dish descends from medieval Spanish manjar blanco, made with hen, almonds, rice and milk, which is why it is pale and slightly sweet.
• Once the milk and cheese are in, do not let it boil. It will split and turn grainy.
• Gallina means hen. A proper old bird, simmered an hour and a half, gives the deep flavour and the fibrous shreds this dish was built around.

Substitutions

• No fresh ají amarillo or paste: soak 6 dried ají mirasol in hot water for 30 minutes and blend. The colour will be deeper and the flavour smokier.
• No walnuts: pecans are the Lima favourite anyway, or use 2 tbsp ground almond.
• No evaporated milk: whole milk plus 2 tbsp milk powder, which keeps the cooked-milk note.

Variations

• Ají de gallina with pecans, richer and slightly sweeter, is the classic Lima restaurant version.
• Ají de atún, made with tinned tuna, is the cheap weekday version in coastal homes.
• A version bound with more nuts and less bread, popular in Arequipa.

History

Shredded hen in a creamy sauce of aji amarillo, walnuts and bread, descended from the Spanish manjar blanco of colonial Lima.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ají de gallina?

Ají de gallina is a main from Peru: shredded chicken in creamy ají amarillo-walnut sauce over potatoes. Shredded hen in a creamy sauce of aji amarillo, walnuts and bread, descended from the Spanish manjar blanco of colonial Lima.

How long does Ají de gallina take to make?

Ají de gallina takes 25 min of preparation and 45 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Ají de gallina?

Yes, within limits. No fresh ají amarillo or paste: soak 6 dried ají mirasol in hot water for 30 minutes and blend. The colour will be deeper and the flavour smokier. No walnuts: pecans are the Lima favourite anyway, or use 2 tbsp ground almond. No evaporated milk: whole milk plus 2 tbsp milk powder, which keeps the cooked-milk note.

What is the most important thing to get right in Ají de gallina?

Poach the chicken with the aromatics and salt for 25 minutes, then cool it in the broth. Shred it by hand along the grain into thick threads, never chop it. Keep 500 ml of the broth.