Aji chicken

The Aji chicken It is another of the great wonders of Peruvian food, which is closely linked to Spanish cuisine.

This dish has a mixture of interesting ingredients that give it a unique and extremely delicious flavorIn addition, its appearance or presentation is that of a creamy dish similar to a stew and its color is so pleasant thanks to the yellow of the Peruvian chili.

From the beginning, Peruvian gastronomy has been a adaptation from other cultures, however, it has been able to reinvent itself with flavors over the years, adapting the dishes of its conquerors to its own style and cooking method and, why not, to its own way of life.

Chicken Chili Recipe  

Ingredients

• 1 chicken breast or 1 whole bone-in chicken
• 3 Peruvian yellow peppers
• 1 cebolla great
• 3 cloves of garlic
• ½ cup evaporated milk
• 4 walnut halves
• 2 packages of soda crackers
• 2 slices of sliced ​​bread
• 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese
• 2 potatoes cut into slices
• 4 black olives
• 1 boiled or parboiled egg
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste

Materials

• 3 plastic bowls or cups
• 2 pots
• Knife
• Mortar
• Skillet
• Cutting board
• Strainer
• Dish towel
• Large flat plate
• Blender

Preparation

First, place the breast or the whole chicken to cook in a pot with water without salt. When it has cooked, for about 30 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and remove the chicken to cool. Reserve the broth in a container.

Later, when the chicken is completely cold, unmix it, remove the bones and reserve in the fridge.

Then, in another cup, make a paste with the yellow pepper, To do this, remove the seeds and veins with the help of a spoon, and mash it until you get a smooth consistency.

Take the chili paste to the blender with a little chicken broth, blend until creamy and reserve. Now, grind the walnuts in a mortar until they are well crushed.

Chop the soda crackers with your hands until almost like flour, carry out the same procedure with the bread and, if you get another ingredient based on wheat flour, do the same.

At this time, heat the pan and being at medium temperature sauté the garlic and onion previously chopped into small pieces. When the onion is transparent, add the chili paste. Mix everything well and add salt and pepper.

In another container, bowl or plastic cup, add the crackers or bread with a little broth from the chicken breast. Combine the two ingredients until a thick mixture remains. Add this mixture to the pan with the sofrito, stir well to integrate each ingredient. Also, Gradually add crushed walnuts, evaporated milk and chicken. Keep mixing until you get a thick paste.

At par, add a cup of chicken broth. Cook everything on low heat for 10 minutes uncovered.

While everything is cooking Place the potato slices to be cooked in a pot with enough water. If you like, you can also steam them.

After the cooking time of the main mixture, add the Parmesan cheese and cook for 5 more minutes for the cheese to gratin. With the help of a strainer, remove the potatoes from the water and let them cool slightly. Lower the Aji chicken from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes.

On a plate, serve an escorted portion of potatoes, garnish with a sprig of coriander, boiled egg and black olives. Accompany with a portion of rice and a glass of fresh juice.

Advice and suggestions

• This dish is served in a large dinner plate, first adding a generous portion of rice, then, on one side, the previously parboiled potatoes are placed y on top of everything there is a large quantity of Ají de Pollo.
• To decorate the plate use half a boiled egg and 2 or more black olives; if you prefer it with a more spicy flavor, you can put chili on top of the rice, which will also add more color to the presentation.
• When you are going to make the yellow chili paste, be careful not to run your hands over your face, let alone your eyes, since the chili is extremely spicy. If you need to touch any part of your face, you should wash your hands with plenty of water.
• if the sauce it is very thick, you can place more chicken broth y if it is very watery you can plant it more parmesan cheese.
• Traditionally, this dish can be accompanied with white rice, chifa rice, boiled vegetables, potatoes of any kind whether boiled, fried or steamedr. Bread is not usually integrated as a companion, because the preparation already has enough wheat-based flour and semolina to add more.
• One of the advantages of Aji chicken is that can be refrigerated for 3 days without losing its flavor and without being damaged.

Nutrients and benefits of Ají de Pollo  

Mainly, chicken is one of the most consumed foods in Peru, which we can get in a wide variety of dishes, such as pieces, baked, stewed or even roasted, accompanied with vegetables, broths and pasta. Also, it is a very versatile and delicious protein, which contributes Multiple benefits which we will mention below:

• Chicken meat is an important source of nutrients, such as proteins, lipids, vitamins and minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, sodium, potassium, magnesium, among others.
• Most of the chicken's body fat is found in the skin, so removing it reduces fat consumption. This makes the meat easily digestible and can also be consumed by people of any age.
• Being a meat with a neutral flavor, chicken has the ability to take on any flavor or spice that we add to it in the kitchen. The versatility of chicken is an important advantage, especially in the culinary richness of Peru.
• Chicken in Peru has a high biological value, is produced under conditions with a high degree of specialization and meets the highest quality standards.
• This type of food is one of the meat proteins cheapest and lowest cost in the world market, making it very accessible to everyone.

On the other hand, the preparation of Aji chicken, which carries our aforementioned star protein, provides an amount of 774 calories, of which the 23% is from protein, 13% is from carbs, and 64% is just fat. That is to say, in this dish the greatest number of calories are fat from the cooking oil, from the pecans, the fat from milk, from the Parmesan and from the chicken pulp itself.

As for cholesterol, provides 170 milligrams for the three foods of animal origin, milk, cheese and chicken. Other outstanding nutrients are vitamin A with 990 IU, sodium with 1369 milligrams and calcium with 690 milligrams, the latter meets the average needs of a balanced diet.

History

The principle of Aji chicken goes back to Spain (Catalan) during the fourteenth century, where it was common among its citizens to serve the manjar blanco, a snack containing boiled chicken breast, seasoned with sugar, walnuts and almonds and thickened with rice flour, which, with the process of conquest It reached the shores of Peru at the hands of the colonizers.

However, according to the Peruvian sociologist and researcher Isabel Álvarez Novoa, she maintains that this dish would be in the real delicacy of Peru as a dessert dungeon type (food similar to porridge made from corn and prepared in various ways depending on the places in America) since this was made from almonds and chicken, and was very common in various recipe books of the XNUMXth century.

On the other hand, according to the journalist and gastronome Rodolfo Hinostroza, the origin of the Ají de Pollo would be in the remains of the Spanish dish, although there are other historians who say that it would be a gastronomic miscegenation between the Hispanic races and the Andean Uchú.