Aji de Gallina

Susan Ticse MBA’20

Peru

Ingredients:

4 Yellow potatoes 4 slices Bread

3/4 cup Evaporated milk 1 1/2 pounds Chicken breast 4 cups Chicken stock 3 to 4 Yellow aji peppers 1/2 cup Vegetable oil 2 cloves Garlic (minced) 1 large Onion (finely chopped) 3 tablespoons Walnuts (chopped) 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (grated) 2 Hard-boiled eggs

Instructions:

1. Stew the chicken in enough water to come within an inch of the top of the chicken. In a blender or small food processor, place the peppers, three cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt, and enough vegetable oil to process the peppers into a slightly chunky sauce. Set aside. 2. In a blender place the crushed bread, three cloves of garlic, one teaspoon of the hot pepper sauce, and evaporated milk.

Puree until smooth.

3. Chop onion and nuts and set aside. 4. When the chicken is done, reserve stock and shred the chicken into a separate container. 5. In a cleaned stew pot, place 2 tbsp vegetable oil and sauté onions until slightly transparent on medium heat. Add cumin and turmeric and continue cooking a minute or so, often stirring to toast the spices. Put all but 1 cup of stock to sautéed onion, stirring to release the spices from the bottom of pan. Add the evaporated milk mixture to the pan and lower heat. Heat through, often stirring to prevent sticking.

The sauce thickens quickly. 6. If the sauce isn’t as thick as you like, you can put the reserved chicken stock in the blender with more crackers and puree smooth, then add to the pot until it is the consistency that you like. If it thickens too much, you can add the remaining stock and a little milk to thin it out.

7. Add the shredded chicken, parmesan cheese, and nuts.

Add salt and more of the pepper sauce to taste. 8. In a separate pot make the rice: Boil water. Add oil, garlic, salt, and rice. Bring back to a boil, stir, then reduce heat to low and cover tightly. (Do not stir or remove lid while cooking.) Cook for 20 to 25 minutes until all liquid is absorbed.

9. Serve over rice. I always offer the remaining pepper sauce at the table, because this dish is best spicy, but some people can’t tolerate too much heat, so I make it mild for them.

SPECIAL NOTE: You can make this with bread or crackers.