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February 11, 2024 5 min read
It’s no secret that Peruvian cuisine holds some of the biggest treasures, ready to be cooked and eaten. Among these treasures we can find the super popularají amarillo; this fruit has been grown in Peruvian cultures for the last 8,000 years. Even then it was so precious that it was gifted to gods in religious ceremonies and it was considered a sacred symbol.
It’s fascinating how a simple ingredient can become the main star of relatively any major dish in Peruvian cuisine. Presented in many ways and cooked in many forms,ají amarillo has given Peruvian gastronomy its characteristic flavor.
Ají amarillo, also known in english as Peruvian Yellow Chilli or Peruvian Chile Pepper, its a fruit from the Capsicum family; a domestic kind grown mainly in Perú and Bolivia.
It has a conic large shape of around 3 ½” and starts off as being bright green, when it’s ripe it turns a bright orange-yellowish tone.Ají amarillo has white seeds and can be presented in two forms:
FreshAjí Amarillo: It gathers most of its natural moist and this is the most used kind ofají amarillo in Peruvian cuisine.
Ají Mirasol: This is the name given toají amarillo when you let it dry out in the sun. The taste becomes less spicy but more strong. Some people combine both types of ají to get particular flavors in their dishes.
Apart from its delicious taste,ají amarillo has great medicinal properties. One of its main ingredients, capsaicin, is used to elaborate painkillers. It is also a big source of vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, iron, magnesium and potassium.
As with any main ingredient,ají amarillo can be used in different presentations. The most popular is theají amarillo paste, which can take a while to prepare. Luckily, nowadays you can findají amarillo paste ready to use in your dishes. You can also find this useful fruit whole and canned or even chopped into small pieces to make other sorts of recipes.
Whether you use it complete or in paste,ají amarillo is an essential ingredient in any classic Peruvian dish, that is mainly used as a seasoning.
One of the best dishes to eat on a hot day is a deliciously fresh Peruvian ceviche. The best types of fish you can use for this recipe are hake or grouper cut in filets.Apart from the fish,ají amarillo is the star of this recipe.
You must slice the ají very thinly and remember to remove correctly the central part as well as the seeds to avoid excessive spice. Some people also like to addají amarillo paste like this one to the mix to give it a stronger taste.
It’s important that you remove correctly the central part of the ají because that’s where most of it’s spice comes from. Some people choose to add someaji pasteto the mix and that usually adds up a great and stronger taste.
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This dish is a classic in Peruvian gastronomy, present in every mayor meal. It is a very simple recipe that involves boiling potatoes and eggs and bathing them in a special bright yellow sauce made, of course, withají amarillo.
As with barely any Peruvian recipe, you can either chop very small pieces of ají amarillo that will later be blended with other ingredients to form the sauce, or you can save time and buy a very convenient pack ofají amarillo paste it’ll have the same great taste and spare you the preparation.
This is one of the most popular and convenient Peruvian dishes, because it consists of an abundant stew with beef base and many vegetable ingredients; including of courseají amarillo.
Try using your favorite vegetables and experiment but don’t leaveají amarillo behind because it truly is the spirit of the dish. For this meal you’ll need whole or choppedají amarillo so you can taste it and let its juice flow along with the other flavors. You can read the full recipehere
There you have it! There are countless meals you can prepare this yellow superstar, start by trying the ones you see here and them experiment with this rich ingredient.
It consists of a thick cream made from minced chicken meat boiled in broth and moistened bread. A unique recipe to share with the family. Although the dish is called Aji de Gallina many times it is prepared with chicken.
Aji de Gallina
?At the time of the colonization, wealthy families loved chicken meat which was consumed in large quantities; the waste was left to the poor and collected the remaining remains of the hen to which they added bread and other condiments: this was how the recipe of Aji de Gallina was born, to which over time the aji amarillo was added.
Another hypothesis about its origin is that the dish has Catalan origins dating back to the fourteenth century. In ancient times it appeared as a cream composed of chicken breast, rice, almonds and was characterized by its slightly sweet flavor as sugar was also added.
Arriving in Peru, the recipe underwent a further modification with a touch of Peruanism the aji amarillo.
½ kg of chicken breast.
½ teaspoon of palillo (found in ethnic shops, if you can't find it you can use turmeric).
2 aji amarillo (can be found in any ethnic shop whole or in the form of sauce, they are used to give the spicy flavor, so if you don't like spicy you can not put)
5 packets of crackers or 5 slices of white bread.
4 potatoes
2 hard-boiled eggs
½ onion
1 glass of milk
3 cups of chicken broth
Oil
salt
To prepare the aji de gallina we need to boil the chicken breast for 15 min. While the chicken is cooking, in another pot we have to cook the washed potatoes with the skin (about 20 min) and the egg which must become hard.
Meanwhile, put the bread in a bowl with milk and let it soften, after a couple of minutes add a little chicken water and proceed to mash or blend in order to obtain a cream. Chop the onion with a knife and fry it in a pan with about 2 tablespoons of oil, after a couple of minutes add our aji amarillo and palillo.
We put the chicken in a dish to let it cool, then we fray it, remember not to throw away the chicken broth. At this point, add our cream of bread and a little salt to the pan. If necessary, add a little broth and let it mix well for a few minutes over low heat.
When the cream is ready, we serve the aji de Gallina accompanied by rice and garnished with potatoes, slices of hard-boiled eggs, parsley and black olive and now we can eat Peruvian!
Aji de Gallina is served hot to prevent the cream from hardening and forming a sort of crust. The amount of aji amarillo to be used in the recipe varies according to taste, if you like it spicy add more. If you don't have aji amarillo, replace it with
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