Ají de Gallina: Peruvian Creamed Chicken
Shredded chicken in a cream of ají amarillo, walnuts and bread soaked in milk. The name misleads twice: it is not hot — the ají amarillo brings colour and aroma, not heat — and it is hardly ever made with hen any more. The bread is the thickener, which is why the sauce turns creamy with no flour and no cream.
🔎 What is ají amarillo? — where it comes from, what goes in it and how it differs.
Ingredients
- 600 g chicken breast
- 1 litre chicken stock
- 4 slices of white bread, crusts removed
- 200 ml evaporated milk (or whole milk)
- 4 tbsp ají amarillo paste (or 4 fresh chillies, boiled twice)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 50 g walnuts
- 50 g grated Parmesan
- 3 tbsp oil
- Salt and pepper
- Boiled potatoes, white rice, hard-boiled egg and black olives, to serve
Method
- 1
Poach the chicken breast gently in the stock, about 20 minutes. Lift it out, let it cool a little and shred it by hand along the grain, do not chop it: those long threads are what make the dish.
- 2
Keep the stock. It adjusts the sauce and it is half the recipe.
- 3
Soak the bread in the milk until it falls apart.
- 4
Soften the onion and garlic in the oil until golden and sweet, without rushing: about 8 minutes.
- 5
Add the ají amarillo and cook 3 minutes more, stirring. This step removes its raw taste and it is what defines the flavour.
- 6
Blend the softened onion base with the soaked bread and the walnuts into a smooth cream.
- 7
Return it to the pan, add the shredded chicken and cook gently for 10 minutes, loosening with stock until the sauce coats the chicken without drowning it.
- 8
Off the heat, stir in the Parmesan and check the salt. The cheese goes in off the heat: boiled, it splits.
- 9
Serve over sliced boiled potatoes with rice alongside, garnished with egg and black olives.