WEEK 2 - "Papa a la Huancaina"

For the second week of my Major Project, I decided to make "Papa a la Huancaina." This is a typical Peruvian appetizer. In 196 Flavors, the author described this dish as follows,

"Papa a la Huancaina is an appetizer composed of thickly sliced boiled potatoes that are smothered in a subtly spicy velvety sauce. This traditional recipe offers a balance of cheesy, spicy, salty, bitter, starchy flavors and textures for a delicious result...Huancaina sauce is often found on Peruvian tables as an excellent accompaniment to many other dishes like pasta, fried yucca or chifle (fried plantains) for example".

I used a recipe from Peru Delights, where you can find different original recipes from Peru. For this dish, I needed the following ingredients:

• ½ cup aji amarillo paste
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 4 soda crackers
• 8 oz. queso fresco (fresh white cheese)
• Salt
• Iceberg lettuce leaves
• 6 yellow potatoes, boiled and peeled
• Black olives
• 3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in slices
• Parsley sprigs

                                                               Made with Thinglink

(Click here if you can't see the interactive version of my Thinglink project)

I got all the ingredients easily except for fresh aji amarillo chili peppers, which can't be find in the U.S. I bought ají amarillo paste online, as some articles said that it would work the same way. I also used Russet potatoes instead of yellow potatoes. In the article from The Spruce, the author talked about the importance of ají amarillo for Peruvian cuisine:

"The aji amarillo is a member of capsicum baccatum, one of the five domesticated pepper species, and is grown all over Peru. Aji means chili pepper and amarillomeans yellow in Spanish. This chili is 30,000 to 50,000 on the Scoville Heat unit scale and is considered part of the Peruvian "holy trinity" when it comes to their cuisine, along with garlic and red onion".

There aren't many steps to make "Papa a la Huancaina". I made a Haiku Deck presentation to summarize the process. To access the presentation and change the time interval between slides click here.

Original recipe from Peru Delights

I think this dish turned out very good! I served it as an appetizer but also as a side for spaghetti. I was afraid the sauce wouldn't taste good because I didn't have fresh chili peppers, but it  tasted really good. I can't wait to try the next recipe!

Appetizer: "Papa a la Huancaina"

Spaghetti with "Papa a la Huancaina"