K’ala phurka

Ingredients

The soup

• 300 gwhite maize flour
• or 300 g fine cornmeal
• 2 litreswater or stock
• 2onions, finely chopped
• 4garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tablespoonsoil
• 1 teaspoonground cumin
• 2 teaspoonsaji panca or paprika
• salt and black pepper

To finish

• 200 gfresh cheese, crumbled
• or 200 g queso fresco
• a handful of chopped parsley
• llajwa or chilli sauce

The stone

• 1dry volcanic stone per bowl
• about the size of an egg
• long tongs
• a fire or a hot oven

Directions

1. Use only a dry porous volcanic stone. Heat it slowly rather than fast. The stone is red hot when it goes in. Use long tongs and keep your face away. Keep children well away from the whole process. Never lift the stone out with bare hands.
2. Use a dry porous volcanic stone. It should be about the size of an egg. Set the stones at the edge of a fire. Give them at least thirty minutes. Heat them slowly rather than quickly. A hot oven works just as well. Heat them at 250C for forty minutes.
3. Heat the oil in a heavy deep pot. Add the chopped onions to the pot. Cook them for a good eight minutes. Add the crushed garlic to them. Cook it for a good two minutes. Add the cumin and the aji panca. Fry them for one full minute more. Mix the maize flour with cold water first. Whisk it into a smooth thin slurry. Maize flour lumps instantly in hot liquid.
4. Bring the rest of the water to a boil. Pour the slurry in while whisking hard. Cooking it out takes real attention. Stir it constantly without stopping. Give it about thirty full minutes. Taste a little to check for rawness. It should be thick but still pourable.
5. Add hot water if it goes too thick. Season it well with salt and pepper. Ladle the hot soup into thick bowls. Use bowls that can take the heat. Never use thin glass or fine china.
6. Scatter crumbled cheese over each bowl. Add the chopped parsley to each. Adding the stone takes real care. Lift a glowing stone with long tongs. Hold it well away from your body. Do not drop it in from a height. Stand well back as it goes in. It bubbles hard for a minute or two.
7. Let it settle before anyone eats. It stays dangerously hot for a long time. Use a spoon or tongs, never fingers. Serve the soup very hot in warmed bowls. Serving it is done immediately. Put llajwa on the table for those who want heat. It keeps two days refrigerated.

Technique

• Heating stones and dropping them in liquid is dangerous: stones can contain trapped water that turns to steam and cracks them apart violently, so never use river or wet stones, use only a dry porous volcanic stone, and heat it slowly rather than fast.
• The red hot stone makes the soup erupt and spit, so use long tongs, keep your face away, keep children clear, warn everyone the stone is in the bowl and never lift it with bare hands; the soup is excellent without a stone at all.
• Potosi sits above four thousand metres where food cools within minutes in the thin air, which is the practical reason the stone is used; silver was mined at Cerro Rico from the fifteen forties, making the city enormously wealthy while killing vast numbers of forced indigenous and enslaved African labourers.

Substitutions

• The soup can be served very hot in warmed bowls with no stone at all.
• Fine cornmeal stands in for white maize flour.

Variations

• Some cooks add potato or wheat to the soup.
• The amount of cheese varies widely between households.
• Llajwa, the Bolivian chilli sauce, is served alongside.

History

A Potosi breakfast soup; the glowing stone from the mining hills keeps it bubbling in the cold high-altitude air.

Frequently asked questions

What is K’ala phurka?

K’ala phurka is a soup & stew from Bolivia: thick maize soup served with a fire-heated volcanic stone dropped in. A Potosi breakfast soup; the glowing stone from the mining hills keeps it bubbling in the cold high-altitude air.

How long does K’ala phurka take to make?

K’ala phurka takes 25 minutes of preparation and 50 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in K’ala phurka?

Yes, within limits. The soup can be served very hot in warmed bowls with no stone at all. Fine cornmeal stands in for white maize flour.

What is the most important thing to get right in K’ala phurka?

Use only a dry porous volcanic stone. Heat it slowly rather than fast. The stone is red hot when it goes in. Use long tongs and keep your face away. Keep children well away from the whole process. Never lift the stone out with bare hands.