Recipe: Peruvian style chili chicken (Video)

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Hello everyone! I am excited to dedicate today's post to the Peruvian dish known as “ají de gallina”, “ají de pollo” or my bad translation: Peruvian chili chicken. Also, I’m thrilled to share a short video that, I hope, will help with it’s preparation.

The Peruvian chili chicken is a very tasty dish, of a rich consistency and flavor. Its color and flavor is due to it’s peruvian chili pepper ingredient, which also gives it an ever so slight spice. When I made this dish I had really been missing it.

I made the video as test version in response to the bad luck I've had when checking out some recipes online. My biggest frustration is finding too many versions and very long videos (though well-intentioned). Consider it a “dummies" version or for beginners.

Ingredients
1 chicken breast
2 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts
1 red onion
2 cloves garlic
1 whole or ground yellow Peruvian pepper
2 tablespoons ‘panca’ Peruvian pepper sauce (optional)
4 slices of bread (white)
Oil
½ - 1 cup fresh milk
3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Preparation
Boil and shred a chicken breast. Separate the broth.

Remove the crust from the bread and soak in part of the broth.

Chop the onion and garlic. Finely chop the yellow pepper if you don’t have it in a paste. It’s my preference to bring the chopped ingredients together in a blender, for better consistency. You can finely chop them if you do not wish to use a blender.

Sauté this mixture into a greased pot. Add the “panca” Peruvian pepper sauce (optional).

Add the soaked crumbs. Stir the mix over a low heat.

Add the chicken, nuts and cheese. Add milk at the end.

Serves: 4-5 people

I hope you enjoy

Comments
- This recipe is inspired by the cookbook "What to cook today" by Nicolini and my mom’s version. My deviation is that I did not use “mirasol” Peruvian chili (I didn’t have any), I consider “panca” chili optional, and I used fresh milk instead of evaporated milk. Also, I used peanuts because I didn’t have walnuts.
- The consistency should be thick but if it is too solid or watery, add a little chicken broth or soaked crumbs, respectively.
- You can sprinkle some Parmesan cheese and cilantro leaves when you serve. Traditionally, it is served over boiled potatoes and adorned with olives and a slice of hard boiled egg. Also, in Peru it’s served with a lot of rice. I accompanied it with potatoes baked in oil and butter ❤, and steamed broccoli.
- For the English version, in case you are wondering what the difference is between the “gallina” and “pollo”, it’s an age and gender distinction of in the Spanish vocabulary. “Gallina” is a like a hen and has a “pollo” is a very young chick.