Peruvian recipe
How to make Ají de gallina
Lima and the coast
Shredded chicken in a thick, creamy yellow sauce of ají amarillo chilli, onion, garlic, bread soaked in milk, cheese and ground walnuts or pecans. It is mild, rich and comforting, served with rice, boiled potatoes, olives and egg.
Ingredients
- 2 chicken breasts
- 4 slices of white bread, crusts removed, and 250 ml evaporated milk
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 onion and 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 3 tablespoons ají amarillo paste, or 2 mild yellow chillies, blended
- 50 g walnuts or pecans, finely ground
- 40 g grated Parmesan cheese
- Boiled potatoes, white rice, black olives and 2 hard-boiled eggs, to serve
Method
- Simmer the chicken in lightly salted water for about 20 minutes, until cooked through. Keep 250 ml of the stock and shred the chicken with two forks.
- Soak the bread in the evaporated milk, then blend until smooth.
- Fry the onion, garlic and chilli paste in the oil over a low heat for about 10 minutes, until soft and golden.
- Stir in the bread mixture and the stock and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, until thick. Add the nuts, cheese and chicken and heat through. Season with salt.
- Serve over boiled potatoes with white rice, decorated with olives and halves of hard-boiled egg.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
It is believed to come from manjar blanco, a medieval dish of chicken with almonds and milk that the Moors brought to Spain.
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