Papa a la huancaína
Warm yellow potatoes under a cold Peruvian sauce of ají amarillo, fresh cheese and evaporated milk.
Photo : AgainErick · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Total
- 40 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
Method
- Boil the potatoes whole and unpeeled in salted water for 20 to 25 minutes, until a knife slides through. Drain and let them cool to warm.
- Meanwhile heat the oil in a small pan and fry the onion and garlic for 5 minutes, then add the ají paste and cook 2 minutes more to take off its raw edge.
- Let this mixture cool completely; blended hot, it makes the cheese split and turn grainy.
- Blend the cheese, evaporated milk, crackers and cooled ají mixture to a perfectly smooth, bright yellow sauce.
- Adjust with a splash more milk: the sauce should coat a spoon without running like water. Salt sparingly, as the cheese is already salty.
- Peel the still-warm potatoes and cut them into thick rounds, laying them out on a serving plate.
- Spoon the cold sauce generously over them and finish with black olives and wedges of hard-boiled egg.
The contrast between warm potatoes and cold sauce is the whole point of the dish. The crackers are not a shortcut: they are what gives the sauce its characteristic body.
