Peruvian Recipe: Papa a la Huancaína

When I was younger, I would go to Peru every summer to stay with my grandparents. There, I would watch my grandmother make all sorts of delicious Peruvian cuisine. Of course, I learned how to first make Papa a la Huancaína from my mother, who would make this dish quite often, but over the years, I perfected my skills watching my grandmother cook.

I always found the process of making Peruvian food fascinating – how can something so delicious be so simple to make?? This is something I’ve found myself asking many times.

Papa a la Huancaína is a simple dish to make, yet the delicious spicy, creamy sauce that goes on top of the potatoes along with some garnishes make this an outstanding dish to eat. Although the name of this dish is derived from the city, Huancayo, Papa a la Huancaína is a dish from Lima, Peru.

Papa a la Huancaína Recipe

I don’t often share recipes because I always use a recipe book, but having grown up making this, I don’t really need a recipe, except for the one in my head. It is this same recipe that I now share with you all.

Ingredients

• 1/4 of aji amarillo (yellow chili pepper). If you can’t find any use 1/4 cup of the yellow chili pepper paste
• 1 can of evaporated milk
• 1 Garlic clove
• 1 packet of soda crackers (you can use two if the sauce isn’t thick enough)
• 80 grams of queso fresco cheese
• Olives (this is used as a garnish)
• 5-6 eggs (depends on how much egg you want on top)
• 8 Yellow potatoes (if you have any, if not any will work)
• Oil
• Salt and pepper
• Lettuce

Instructions

1. Begin by boiling the potatoes in a pot.
2. While the potatoes are cooking, boil the eggs.
3. Chop the yellow peppers (if you got the paste, skip this step)
4. Get all your ingredients ready
5. Once time is up, get the eggs out of the pot, peel the shell and set them aside
6. In a blender, add the aji amarillo (yellow chili pepper or paste), add oil, a dash of salt and pepper, the milk, the garlic clove, queso fresco and the packet of soda crackers. Blend all the ingredients.
7. The sauce should be thick and not runny. If it comes out runny add more cheese or crackers.
8. By now the potatoes should be ready. Turn off the stove top and remove the potatoes from the pot. Let it cool.
9. Once potatoes are ready, peel them and slice them.
10. Slice the potatoes and eggs. Add a leaf of lettuce on the plate and add the potatoes on top. Add the huancaina sauce on the potatoes. Top it off with the sliced eggs and olives.
11. Congratulations! You just made a Peruvian dish. Enjoy!

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