Aji de Gallina

Aji de Gallina a Turquia

Adapted from The Art of Peruvian Cuisine, by Tony Custer

(a beautiful gift from the Lemleys)

This is one of Kelani’s favorite dishes. I was not sure if I could pull it off without all of the Peruvian spices available. It worked. Not certain how a Peruvian would have felt about the substitutions, but other than being more red than yellow in color, the results reminded of us our time in Peru.

• 1 chicken (about 2 kg, 4 pounds or 3 complete breasts)
• 1 medium chopped white onion
• 1 clove (3 really), crushed (I chopped instead)
• 7 tablespoons aji marisol paste (recipe below)
• ½ loaf sliced bread without the crust (I took a loaf of fresh bread, sliced it, and toasted it in the oven, then put it in the food processor), about 1 ½ cups of crumbs, I think
• 2 cups plus chicken stock (I made this as you have to boil the chicken and peel the meat off the bone, so I kept the chicken water, added the bones, salt, and cooked some more)
• 1 ½ cups evaporated milk- we do not have this, so I used whole milk, about 2 cups (I do not like the after taste of evaporated milk either)
• 100 grams chopped walnuts
• 125 grams grated parmesan cheese
• ½ cup olive oil
• 1 dozen black olives
• 6 – 8 yellow potatoes (I used rice instead)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 6 hard boiled eggs
• Salt and pepper to taste

Start making the aji marisol paste if you do not already have it.

In a pan of water boil the chicken gently. Cool. Shred the chicken into bite-size pieces. Return the bones and skin if you want to the pan, add salt and boil gently to make your chicken stock.

Add milk to bread crumbs.

In a large heavy based pan, heat a couple of tablespoons of oil. Sauté the onion until golden, add the garlic and aji marisol paste and fry them well.

Add the soaked bread mixture. Cook for another 10 minutes and then begin to add ladles of the hot chicken stock, stirring constantly. Each time the sauce thickens add the chicken stock. While stirring continually add the olive oil.

Finally, add the shredded chicken, parmesan cheese and nuts. If it is too thick add some more stock while stirring gently so as not to mash the chicken. Simmer gently until the oil comes to the surface.

Serve hot (accompanied by rice) and yellow potatoes. Garnish with olives and hard boiled eggs. (I do not serve rice and potatoes, also baked french fries are a good substitute).