Indian summer hit Amsterdam and I knew that grey clouds would land and stick around for months to come. It was the early days of Fall and I was heavily craving summer food. Just imagine how lucky one can be when your friend happens to be your colleague food blogger as well, with a platform solely dedicated to whatever food she’s craving! We had already talked about a Dishtales People feature and trust me, when you see her content and aesthetically perfect dishes/photography, you’ll understand why I was dying to feature her. She invited me over for lunch that day, promising to prep a Peruvian dish. Keep reading as it is my utmost pleasure to introduce you today to a very talented, beautifully humble and fierce Peruvian lady, with a love for food so strong that we were bound to be friends: Meet Paola.
While researching streetfood in London for an article last year it was very clear that Peruvian food was the big hype. Brick Lane always represented the best Indian (street-)food, but the usual pakora and tandoori chicken now made place for Peruvian cuisine. The hype was intruiging and so naturally I asked Paola to share one of her favorite Peruvian dishes. What’s on the menu? Causa Limeña, a dish that combines a soft mash with avocado, chicken salad and a very fragrant, fresh & spicy salsa.
What to expect with this recipe/dish? An explosion of delicious flavors, visually stunning (as you can see) food, healthy and so easy to make! You can imagine that we spent the afternoon photographing away, talking about food styling and compositions. As I was looking at how she captures the very essence of food, with her iPhone(!), on handmade under-/backgrounds, I realized how much of an inspiration she really is. Her extraordinary, everyday growing success with Cravings in Amsterdam is very much deserved, especially considering how dedicated and humble she is to share all her cravings with the world!
Now print out the recipe and start cooking! 🙂
BUY:
- Serving 4
- For the causa:
- 1 kilo of russet potatoes
- 5 tablespoons of Aji Amarillo paste*, more or less depending on how much heat you like
- Juice of 2 limes
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 2 ½ tablespoons of vegetable oil
- For the chicken salad:
- 300gr of chicken breast, cut into big chunks
- 1/3 cup of mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon of mustard
- Salt to taste, I used celery salt
- Pepper to taste
- Juice of ½ lime
- For the salsa criolla:
- 2 red onions, chopped
- 2 bird’s eye chili, chopped
- 4 tablespoons of chopped cilantro/coriander
- Juice of ½ lime
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- Extras:
- 2 avocados, sliced
- Chives for garnish
DO:
- Boil the potatoes until they are very tender. Then peel and mash them while they are still hot. Make sure there aren’t any lumps. You want it as smooth as possible.
- Add the aji amarillo paste, lime juice, salt and vegetable oil. Mix it with your hands. Because of the chili paste, I wear gloves. Mix well until you have an even dough. It won’t be sticky any more. If you want it extra smooth, you can pass it through a sieve. Cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. You can also do this the night before.
- Poach the chicken in water for about 20 minutes or until cooked through. Then transfer the chicken to a cutting board and using two forks, start to shred it.
- In a medium bowl, add the mayonnaise, mustard, lime juice, salt and pepper. Add the shredded chicken and mix well. Taste for salt and pepper. Set aside.
- To make the salsa criolla, just mix all of the ingredients in bowl.
- To plate up I used a round mold. First add a layer of the mashed potato, then a layer of avocado. Follow by a layer of chicken salad and finish with a layer of the mashed potato. Remove the mold carefully. Add some of the salsa criolla on top and garnish with some chives.
Oh and FYI:
* For this recipe you need Aji Amarillo paste, which is a Peruvian chili paste, and you can find it at most Latin American stores or online. In Amsterdam, they sometimes have it at Tijns’s Toko (www.tjinstoko.eu). There is also a Peruvian store in Paris called EL INTI – La Boutique péruvienne (www.boutique-peruvienne.com) which always has it and they deliver within the European Union.
Make sure to visit, follow & like Paola’s fantastic work on her Website, Facebook & Instagram!
Looks amazing! ?