Causa Limeña: Cold Peruvian Potato Terrine
A cold terrine of potato purée kneaded with ají amarillo and lime, with a chicken or tuna filling in the middle. It is layered in a tin, chilled for two hours and cut like a savoury cake. The purée is not an ordinary one: it is worked until it becomes a smooth, firm dough, and that is what lets it hold its layers.
🔎 What is ají amarillo? — where it comes from, what goes in it and how it differs.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg floury potatoes
- 3 tbsp ají amarillo paste (or 3 fresh chillies, boiled twice)
- Juice of 2 limes
- 4 tbsp oil
- Salt and white pepper
- — For the filling —
- 400 g cooked shredded chicken breast (or 2 tins of tuna)
- 6 tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 celery stick, finely chopped
- 1 ripe avocado, sliced
- Hard-boiled egg, black olives and parsley, to garnish
Method
- 1
Boil the potatoes in their skins until very tender. Peel them hot and rice them at once: cold, they turn gluey and can no longer be kneaded.
- 2
Let the purée cool to lukewarm and knead it with the ají amarillo, lime juice, oil, salt and white pepper. Work it a few minutes until smooth and it comes away from your hands. That firm dough is what holds the layers: a soft purée collapses when you cut it.
- 3
Taste and adjust. Causa is eaten cold, and cold mutes both salt and lime — so lukewarm it should taste slightly too strong.
- 4
Mix the chicken or tuna with the mayonnaise and celery, and season.
- 5
Line a rectangular tin with cling film, leaving an overhang to cover.
- 6
Build three layers: a third of the purée, all the filling, the avocado slices, and the rest of the purée on top. Press each layer with the back of a spoon so no gaps remain.
- 7
Cover with the film and chill for at least 2 hours. Without that cold it will not slice, it falls apart.
- 8
Lift it out by the film, garnish with egg, olives and parsley, and cut with a knife dipped in hot water.