Creamy and Homemade Chicken Chili

60 min
Ají de Gallina is a jewel of Peruvian Creole cuisine. It consists of frayed chicken fillets dipped in a thick, vibrant, yellow sauce based on yellow chili pepper, bread, milk and pecans. The cream has a velvety texture and a complex, slightly spicy flavor with nutty notes. Traditionally, it is served on a bed of parboiled yellow potato, accompanied with white rice and garnished with hard-boiled eggs and bottled olives. It's the definition of comfort food.

INGREDIENTES

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4
Porciones

HERRAMIENTAS

  • + Pot for cooking chicken.
  • + Large skillet or pot for the cream.
  • + Immersion blender.
  • + Cutting board and knife.

INSTRUCCIONES

Step 1:

Cook the Chicken. In a pot, place the chicken pieces and cover them with water. Add a good pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat for about 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked.

Step 2:

Fray. Remove the chicken from the pot and allow it to cool slightly. Strain the broth and reserve it, it's liquid gold! Once you can handle the chicken, remove the skin and bones and fray all the meat. Reserve.

Step 3:

Prepare the dressing. In a large skillet or pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Saute the onion and garlic until translucent. Season with salt, pepper and toothpick. Cook for two minutes.

Step 4:

Build the Base of the Cream. Add the yellow chili paste to the dressing and cook, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes. Stir in pecans and pieces of bread.

Step 5:

Hydrate and Liquify. Pour the evaporated milk and about 2 cups of the chicken stock you reserved over the bread and dressing mixture. Let everything simmer over low heat for 5 minutes so that the bread softens completely.

Step 6:

The Magic of Creaminess. Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture directly in the pot until you get a completely smooth, homogeneous and creamy sauce.

Step 7:

The Final Encounter. Add the frayed chicken to the cream. Mix well and add half of the grated Parmesan cheese. Cook on low heat for a few more minutes until everything is hot and the flavors have merged. If the cream is too thick, you can add a little more broth.

Step 8:

Serve. Serve a bed of sliced parboiled potatoes on each plate. Top generously with the chicken chili pepper. Serve with a serving of white rice. Garnish with hard-boiled egg, bottija olives, and sprinkle with the rest of the Parmesan cheese and some chopped pecans.

TIPS

  • + Mix of Chicken Pieces: Using leg and thigh in addition to the brisket adds much more flavor and fat to the broth, which results in a tastier final cream.
  • + The Ideal Bread: French or “of the week” bread (a little hard) is perfect for this recipe, since it absorbs liquids very well without completely disintegrating before blending.
  • + Smoothie in the Pot: Using an immersion blender saves you the trouble of having to pass the hot mixture to a glass blender. It's more practical and safe. If you don't have one, wait for the mixture to cool slightly before transferring it to a conventional blender.
  • + The Yellow Chili Pepper: The soul of the dish is the yellow chili pepper. Make sure you use good quality pasta. Sauté it well in the dressing to eliminate the raw flavor and develop all its depth.