Globe-cooking recipe : Aji de Gallina (Peruvian Spicy Creamed Chicken)

For today's globe-cooking adventure, I bring you ... Peru ! This one sparked a lot of interest when I put it on my menu plan. You may also like to check out the other Peruvian recipe that we tried (and loved) last week - Carapulcra.

This is the recipe card from the Kitchen Trotter box and I think you'll agree that mine looks quite similar ! I left out the rice because it already has potatoes in it.

Aji de Gallina (Peruvian Spicy Creamed Chicken)

ingredients :

5 chicken breasts

1 bay leaf

1 onion

a glass of milk

4 cloves of garlic

6 slices of bread

60g grated parmesan

4 potatoes (I used more and left out the side serving of rice)

4 hardboiled eggs

oil

 pepper

from the Kitchen Trotter box :

Aji Amarillo (yellow chilli) paste 

Sel de Maras Peruvian salt

If you're not lucky enough to be a Kitchen Trotter subscriber, these could be replaced with chilli powder or harissa and regular salt.

First step, peel and boil some potatoes.

In a separate pot, half fill it with some water (add salt and pepper) and throw in half of the chopped onion/garlic plus the bay leaf. Bring to the boil.

As soon as the water starts to boil, throw in the chicken breasts. I'd never boiled chicken before but it works really well, as well as being a low-fat alternative to frying or roasting. Leave to cook for 20 minutes then remove the chicken and reserve some of the cooking liquid in a jug.

While the chicken is cooking, take the crusts off the bread and make into breadcrumbs. Add the milk and mix thoroughly to create a thick creamy texture.

Put the (now empty) cooking pot back on the hob for a couple of seconds to dry out then drizzle in some oil and fry the remaining garlic and onion. As soon as the onions start to turn translucent, add a glass of the reserved cooking liquid, as well as the onions from the cooking liquid, and a spoonful or two of chilli paste (depending on how spicy you want it).

Finely chop the chicken - I used two forks to pull it apart like pulled pork - and gradually add to the onions in the pot.

Mix in the milk/breadcrumbs, plus a little extra cooking liquid if necessary - it should go thick and creamy - then mix in the parmesan. I added a little crème fraîche to help it along.

Chop the boiled potatoes and put them on a plate. Cover with the chicken and place hard boiled egg quarters on top to decorate. The Kitchen Trotter recipe card suggested serving this with rice but I didn't think it needed it. The whole family loved this (because I purposely didn't make it too spicy).

Linking up with the Peru roundup on Chef Mireille's East West Realm

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Kitchen Nomad Globe-Cooking Recipe : Mexico - Black Bean Soup

Kitchen Nomad Globe-Cooking Recipe : Greece - Dolmades (Stuffed Vine Leaves)

Kitchen Nomad Globe-Cooking Recipe : Vietnam - Bo Kho (Beef Stew)