Papa a la Huancaina is a typical Peruvian dish. It is made with potatoes, as says its name (Papa = Potato) and a Sauce that is thought to be from Huancaio and made with fresh cheese, eggs and chili pepper.
We followed a cooking class at the charming hotel Tambo Sapalanchan with Chef Paul, in the region of Chachapoyas, northern Peru.
Recipe by Paul Darc, Chef at the Tambo Sapalanchan Hotel and Restaurant in Lamud
Ingredients for 8 people
- 4 hard-boiled egg yolks
- 6 ajies verdes (which means green chili pepper, but actually they are not green, but orange)
- ¼ kilo of fresh cheese (around 9 oz)
- 1 kilo of cooked white potatoes (about 2.3 lbs)
- 4 cooked eggs
- 8 black olives
- Lettuce leaves for the decoration
- Milk and olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Sugar
- Fresh lime juice (optional)
Preparation of “Papa a la Huancaina”
Put on your gloves for this step or be prepared to wash your hands thoroughly afterwards, as the “spice” stays on your fingers. You better don’t touch your eyes!
Remove the seeds and the veins of the chili pepper to make the sauce less spicy. Depending on your sensibility of “hot”, you might want to boil the chili peppers with a little sugar several times to take of the spice. Cut the chili peppers in small pieces.
Cut the fresh cheese in small pieces; prepare milk, olive oil and lemon juice.
Put hard-boiled egg yolks with some of the chili peppers in the blender and start mixing. Add milk, olive oil and lemon juice. Salt and pepper. Taste if you like it spicier. If so, add more of the chili peppers. The sauce should be medium consistent.
Put the salad leaves on your presentation plate (or one leaf per plate for individual serving).
Cut the cooked potatoes in slides that are finger-thick and put 1 – 2 slices per salad leaf.
Cover abundantly with the Huancaina sauce. As a decoration, you put half of a boiled egg and one olive. (You can also use the egg whites that are not used, and cut them very small).
Buen provecho !
