Ají de Gallina — Print Recipe

Shredded chicken in a luxurious creamy sauce of aji amarillo peppers, ground walnuts, Parmesan, and bread, served over rice with boiled potatoes and black olives.

Ingredients

500g chicken breast, poached and shredded
4 slices white bread, crusts removed
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup walnuts, finely ground
4 aji amarillo peppers (or 3 tbsp aji amarillo paste)
1 large onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 cups chicken broth (from poaching)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Boiled potatoes, rice, hard-boiled eggs, and olives for serving

Instructions

1 Poach the chicken breast in salted water with a bay leaf for twenty minutes until cooked through. Remove, cool slightly, and shred into thin strips using two forks. Reserve two cups of the poaching broth for the sauce.
2 Soak the bread slices in the evaporated milk for ten minutes until completely saturated and soft. Blend to a smooth puree in a blender. This bread-milk mixture gives aji de gallina its signature creamy, velvety sauce consistency.
3 If using fresh aji amarillo peppers, remove stems and seeds, then blend to a paste. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Saute the diced onion for five minutes until softened, then add the garlic and aji amarillo paste, cooking for three more minutes.
4 Add the ground walnuts and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in the bread-milk puree and one cup of the reserved chicken broth. Stir well and simmer for ten minutes until the sauce thickens to a creamy, coating consistency.
5 Add the shredded chicken to the sauce and stir to coat every strand completely. Add more broth if the sauce is too thick. Stir in the grated Parmesan and cook for five more minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6 Serve the aji de gallina over steamed white rice with boiled potato halves on the side. Garnish each plate with quartered hard-boiled eggs and black olives. The golden, creamy sauce should generously coat the chicken and flow over the rice.