Aji de Gallina

Aji de Gallina is a traditional Peruvian dish that we grew up eating at my cousins' house in Dallas. I always loved it, but never tackled the recipe myself- until today. It turned out to be pretty easy. And came out delicious. The hardest part was combining the 3 different recipes that I was given, and translating both the language and the foreign measurements (like kilos). The simplified version is below. Happy eating! 

Note: I ordered the aji paste from a gourmet foods site online (which is really second best to using the real aji peppers). 

Aji de Gallina

Ingredients:

-       4 chicken breasts

-       2.5 yellow onions

-       1 large box of chicken broth (32 oz)

-       4 garlic cloves

-       4 slices of white bread, with out crust

-       2 cups of chopped walnuts

-       2 cups of shredded parmesan cheese

-       1 can of evaporated milk

-       aji paste (to taste)

-       4 russet potatoes, boiled and chopped - optional 

Directions:

-       boil chicken breasts in chicken broth with salt and 1/2 quartered onion

-       Once chicken is cooked, remove from liquid and set aside to cool

-       Shred chicken thickly, and set aside

-       In a separate bowl, shred bread and allow to soak up a bit of chicken broth

-       Finely chop 2 cups of walnuts in a food processor. Set aside.

-       In a skillet, heat oil

-       To skillet add 2 onions chopped and 4 pressed garlic gloves

-       Once onions are translucent, add aji paste to taste (start with 1 spoonful; I used 6)

-       Once onion and aji mixer has cooled, blend in food processer

-       Add soggy bread to processor and blend as well 

-       In a skillet over low heat, add shredded chicken, can of evaporated milk, parmesan cheese, chopped walnuts, and onion & bread mixture (add optional potatoes here too)

-       Once all ingredients are blended together, taste and add more aji paste if necessary

-       Season to taste (for more heat, I decided to add a bit of cayenne pepper)

-       Traditionally, this dish is served over rice, with chopped hard boiled eggs and olives sprinkled on top (I never liked those toppings, so feel free to skip)