Peruvian Ají de Gallina
Ají de gallina is poached chicken shredded by hand in a sauce of soaked bread, walnuts, yellow chilli and milk. It is the bread that thickens the sauce, not flour.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 45 min
- Total
- 70 min
- Calories
- 430
Photo: Feralbt — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
What defines this dish is that the chicken is pulled apart by hand rather than cut with a knife. The fine threads hold the sauce along their whole length, so every mouthful carries the full flavour, while even cubes let it slide straight off. The sauce itself is thickened with bread soaked in milk and blitzed smooth — a technique that predates cornflour and roux, and gives a velvety body rather than a gluey one.
Method
-
1
Poaching the chicken
Poach the breasts with the onion for 20 minutes, and keep the broth — it goes into the sauce.
-
2
Shredding
Let the chicken cool a little and pull it into threads with your hands. A knife gives you cubes and the sauce slides off them.
-
3
Soaking the bread
Soak the bread in the milk for 10 minutes, then blitz it with the walnuts until completely smooth.
-
4
The onion base
Soften the onion and garlic over low heat for 10 minutes until sweet, then add the yellow chilli paste for two minutes.
-
5
The sauce
Pour in the bread and walnut mixture and stir over low heat until it thickens, loosening it with the broth until it coats the back of a spoon.
-
6
Bringing it together
Fold in the chicken and the parmesan, and serve it over the boiled potatoes with the egg, olives and white rice.
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Tips that actually matter
- Peruvian yellow chilli is more sweet than hot. If you cannot find it, puréed yellow pepper with a quarter teaspoon of chilli powder is a reasonable stand-in.
- The sauce thickens as it cools. Leave it slightly looser than you want it.
- It is better on the second day. Reheat it with a little broth to bring the texture back.
People also ask
Why bread and not flour?
Bread gives a velvety body with none of the raw-flour taste. This is the traditional method in Peru.
Can I make it with tuna?
There is a Peruvian version with tuna called ají de atún. Exactly the same sauce.
Why is my sauce grainy?
The bread was not soaked long enough, or it was not blended enough. Blitz it completely smooth before it goes into the pan.
Cook mode
Peruvian Ají de Gallina
-
1
Poaching the chicken
Poach the breasts with the onion for 20 minutes, and keep the broth — it goes into the sauce.
-
2
Shredding
Let the chicken cool a little and pull it into threads with your hands. A knife gives you cubes and the sauce slides off them.
-
3
Soaking the bread
Soak the bread in the milk for 10 minutes, then blitz it with the walnuts until completely smooth.
-
4
The onion base
Soften the onion and garlic over low heat for 10 minutes until sweet, then add the yellow chilli paste for two minutes.
-
5
The sauce
Pour in the bread and walnut mixture and stir over low heat until it thickens, loosening it with the broth until it coats the back of a spoon.
-
6
Bringing it together
Fold in the chicken and the parmesan, and serve it over the boiled potatoes with the egg, olives and white rice.
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