Aji de Gallina

A creamy Peruvian chicken stew with pecans, and Aji pepper.

I’ve been trying to find my pictures from when I was in Peru in 1976. I bought a plane ticket to Bogota Columbia and hitch-hiked along the Pan American highway through Peru to Bolivia and back. After meeting some Americans along the way I spent the summer of ’76…when everyone else was celebrating the 200^th anniversary of the USA…seeing Machu Pichu and the Nazca lines. Traveling with the locals in the back of trucks, chewing coca leaves was about all the food tasting I did. Being on a budget, I didn’t go to nice restaurants. But I’ll never forget the experience!

Of course, when Myra went to Peru, years later, she brought back the recipe for Aji de Gallina and the pepper seeds used in it! Back before you could find exotic peppers in a spice shop, she bought some Aji peppers and stuck them in the bottom of her bag. When she returned to Cincinnati she had my brother plant the seeds, and harvested the peppers so she could make Aji de Gallina as a special at the restaurant.

This recipe calls for 4 cups of cooked chicken. Traditionally, you would boil, bone and cut up the chicken, save the broth for a soup recipe and add the cooked chicken at the end. If you have never done this, you can find instructions here. Or, you can buy a chicken already cooked!

It’s best to let the chicken sit in the sauce for a while before you add the pecans and milk, and re-heat it to serve. Aji de Gallina is served over potatoes or rice. Myra garnished it with peas and black olives for taste and color. This is a great recipe to make ahead of time and finish when the potatoes or rice are cooked.

Aji de Gallina

Peruvian chicken stew flavored with Aji peppers, pecans and exotic spices.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

boil, bone and cut up one chicken 1 hour hr

Course Entrees and Favorite Rice Combinations

Cuisine Peru

Servings 8 servings

Equipment

• 1 large pot to boil the chicken
• 1 eight quart pot to make the stew
• knife and cutting board, measuring cups

Ingredients

  

• 1 chicken: boiled, boned and cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 TBLS vegetable oil
• 4 buds garlic, chopped
• 1 heaping cup onions, chopped
• 1 heaping cup celery, chopped
• 3 TBLS fresh ginger, minced
• 1 teas. black pepper
• 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 TBLS. Aji Amarillo dried pepper
• 1 TBLS. oregano
• 2 teas. tumeric
• 2 TBLS. chicken base
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk
• green peas and black olives for garnish

Instructions

 

• Boil, bone and cut up one chicken. You will need 4 cups of cooked chicken. If you have more, save it for tacos, or enchiladas, or chicken salad.

  Save the broth and make a soup.

  Set aside your 4 cups of cooked chicken while you:
• Sauté the garlic, onion, celery, and ginger 2 TBLS. of vegetable oil on medium high. Stir often, until the vegetables are soft.
• Add the black pepper, Aji pepper, oregano, turmeric, chicken base and diced tomatoes with their juice. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of chicken broth if it gets too thick.

  You can stop at this point and finish when your rice or potatoes are done and you are almost ready to serve.
• Add the pecans, evaporated milk and the bread crumbs to the stew. Add the chicken and gently heat everything. It will get really thick at this point, so add milk or broth so it doesn't stick to the bottom.
• Serve over rice or potatoes with peas and olives as a garnish.

Keyword Aji pepper, chicken, Evaporated milk, Pecans, tomatoes