← Nouns Cooking · Brazilian & Peruvian

Ingredients

• 250 g Papa seca (Peruvian dried potato)
• 400 g pork shoulder, cut into 2 cm cubes
• 300 g boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
• 3 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 Red onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves Garlic, crushed
• 4 tbsp Ají panca paste
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1.2 l chicken stock, plus extra if needed
• 60 g roasted unsalted peanuts, finely ground
• 1 tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• 300 g white rice, cooked, to serve

Method

1. Toast the papa seca in a dry frying pan over medium heat for 5–6 min, stirring, until it smells nutty and darkens slightly. Tip into a bowl, cover with water and leave to soak for 30 min. Drain.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat and brown the pork and chicken for 8 min, until golden. Lift out.
3. Lower the heat to medium and cook the onion for 6 min, until soft. Add the garlic, ají panca and cumin and fry for 3 min, stirring, until the paste darkens.
4. Return the meat, add the drained potato and the stock, and bring to a simmer. Cook gently, partly covered, for 45–50 min, stirring often because it likes to stick, until the potato pieces are soft and the stew is thick. Add a splash more stock if it gets too stiff.
5. Stir in the ground peanuts, salt and pepper and cook for 10 min more, until creamy. Serve hot with white rice.

Tips

• Papa seca (sun-dried, chopped potato) is sold in Latin American shops and online; it is what gives carapulcra its chewy, nutty texture.
• Contains peanuts. In Chincha it is famously served with sopa seca (spaghetti cooked with basil and ají).

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

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