Colombian recipe
How to make Ajiaco santafereño
Bogotá and the Andean highlands
A thick chicken and potato soup made with three kinds of potato, corn on the cob and guascas, a local herb. It is served with cream, capers and avocado on the side, so everyone adds them to taste.
Ingredients
- 1 kg chicken breasts or thighs, on the bone
- 2 litres water or chicken stock
- 2 spring onions and 2 garlic cloves
- 500 g small yellow potatoes (papa criolla), or waxy baby potatoes, peeled
- 500 g floury potatoes, peeled and sliced
- 500 g red or white potatoes, peeled and sliced
- 3 corn cobs, each cut into 3 pieces
- 2 tablespoons dried guascas (from Latin American shops), or leave out
- Salt and pepper
- To serve: single cream, capers, sliced avocado and white rice
Method
- Put the chicken, water, spring onions and garlic in a large pot with a little salt. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked.
- Take out the chicken, let it cool and shred it with two forks. Throw away the onions and garlic.
- Add all the potatoes and the corn to the broth and simmer gently for 40 to 45 minutes, stirring now and then, until the small yellow potatoes fall apart and thicken the soup.
- Stir in the guascas and the shredded chicken and cook for 5 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve in deep bowls, with a piece of corn in each, and put cream, capers, avocado and rice on the table for everyone to add.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Along with bandeja paisa, ajiaco is often called Colombia's national dish, and some consider it the most Colombian dish of all.
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