Aji de Gallina – Peruvian Chicken Stew

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Aji de gallina – a creamy Peruvian chicken stew or fricassee served with boiled eggs, olives, potatoes, and rice.

Many Latin American recipes here this week. After the Mexican tostadas, the Argentinian empanadas, and the Choripan con chimichurri, now is time for a Peruvian food recipe, the famous Aji de Gallina.

And it is not over yet when it comes to Latin American recipes, I still have the Costa Rican Gallo pinto, a Brazilian fish soup, and a Tomato and Avocado Salad from Panama.

Peruvian Food

I have to confess that I found it very difficult to find suitable Panamanian and Peruvian food recipes. Not because the food of these countries is not great, there were so many recipes I would have loved to cook myself, but the main difficulty is the lack of the proper ingredients here.

I found many Peruvian and Panamanian recipes with yuca or plantains and so on, stuff I cannot possibly get in my corner of the world. So, I spent more time looking for Peruvian and Panamanian recipes than I spent looking for recipes for all the other countries I meant to cook all together.

I knew about this aji de gallina, I have seen the recipe before and it was always something I knew I would like to cook. I love anything with chicken in it and then that smooth bright sauce, the olives, and the eggs on top… What is not to like?

This Peruvian recipe is for those of you out there, who would like to try aji stew without spending a lot on ingredients that are not available in your area.

Ingredients for Peruvian chicken stew

Stock:

• You can use bought or homemade stock (that you have in your fridge or freezer) and skip making the stock yourself. In this case, cook the meat in the available stock as indicated in the recipe. You will need roughly 1 liter/ 4 cups stock.
• There will be some leftover stock, don’t waste it. Pour it into a jar or bottle and keep it in the fridge for several days. Or freeze it for up to 3 months. You can use the leftover stock for adding to a soup, for making stews or sauces.
• When the meat is cool enough to handle, tear it into small pieces and set aside.

Peppers:

• The bell yellow peppers and the chili will substitute the aji amarillos.
• My chili was very hot this time, so I have only used one.
• Adjust the heat of the dish as desired. You can add more chilies or leave their seeds inside to make the dish hotter.

Olives:

• I always use black wrinkly ones that still have their pit inside, similar to these olives (Amazon affiliate link). Pitted olives make no sense for me, as they taste pretty much of nothing. But do use what you like.
• If you chose to use whole olives with a pit inside, warn the other people at the table about the pits, people don’t always expect them.

How to cook aji de gallina?

Make the stock:

• Chop the vegetables roughly. Place them together with 2 garlic cloves, and meat in the pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, turn the heat down, and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes or until the breasts are cooked through. Don’t overcook them or they will get tough.
• Remove the breasts from the pot and set them aside.
• Continue cooking the stock (uncovered) while you prepare the rest. You will need some of the stock for the recipe.
• If the stock is not flavorful enough, add a chicken stock cube, it will increase the flavor.

Make the sauce:

• Cook the cleaned and quartered yellow peppers for about 10 – 15 minutes or until soft. Drain well.
• Return to the pot, add some stock, and the remaining 2 garlic cloves. Puree until smooth. Set aside.
• Place the torn white bread slices and the walnuts in a bowl. Add some of the chicken stock and puree to obtain a thick paste. Set aside.
• Cook the chopped onions until translucent in a Dutch oven or another heavy-bottomed pan.
• Add the finely chopped chili, pepper sauce, and ¼ cup of the chicken broth. Turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 15 minutes or until slightly thickened.
• Add the bread mixture and simmer for 5 minutes. If the sauce is not smooth enough at this point you can blend it again.
• Shred the chicken and add it to the pot together with the olives and the milk.
• Turn the heat a bit up and continue cooking for several minutes or until the sauce is thickened to your liking.
• Adjust the taste with salt and pepper. Be generous.

How to serve?

Typically with hard boiled eggs, boiled potatoes and rice.

A feast for my husband, I am telling you. Chicken fricassee and hard boiled eggs with sauce are two of his favorite dishes and this aji de gallina is almost a South American version of a chicken fricassee with eggs in it. He could not stop eating it!

Start cooking the eggs, potatoes, and rice while the rest of the dish is cooking, so that you have everything ready in time. If you don’t have enough place on your hob with all the different pots and pans, you could cook the potatoes and the eggs together.

Leftovers?

The Peruvian chicken stew can be easily reheated. If I have leftover rice and potatoes (sliced) as well, I add them to the sauce and reheat everything together. You might want to add a small amount of chicken stock or water when you reheat the sauce together with the rice and/or potatoes.

 More international chicken stews:

• Moroccan Stew with Olives
• Romanian Stew with Peas
• Spicy Korean Stew with Potatoes
• African Stew – Yassa Chicken
• Spanish Stew with Chorizo