🍛 Ají de gallina

Name: Ají de gallina
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Peru · Lima
Ingredients: 600 g chicken breast; 4 slices white bread, crusts removed; 250 ml milk; 2 tbsp vegetable oil; 1 onion and 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 3 tbsp ají amarillo paste; 40 g walnuts, finely ground; 30 g grated parmesan; Salt, pepper, ½ tsp cumin; 300 g cooked white rice and 4 small boiled potatoes to serve

Origin: Peru · Lima

612kcal

per serving · 350 g

175kcal

per 100 g

42 gProtein12 g / 100 g

28 gFat8 g / 100 g

46 gCarbs13 g / 100 g

Ají de gallina is a Peruvian comfort dish of shredded chicken in a thick, creamy yellow sauce made from ají amarillo chili, onion and garlic, thickened with milk-soaked bread, ground walnuts and parmesan. The sauce is mellow, nutty and gently warm rather than fiery. It is spooned over white rice and boiled potatoes, often with a few black olives on the side.

Diets

✓

No porkfor halal, the meat must be halal-slaughtered

✓

High protein12 g protein per 100 g — 27% of the calories

Not vegetarianbecause of: chicken

Not veganbecause of: chicken, parmesan, milk

Contains glutenbecause of: bread

Contains dairybecause of: parmesan, milk

Not keto13 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Milk ⚠ Tree nuts

What it is made of

chickenají amarillobreadwalnutparmesanmilkrice

Recipe

4 servings60 min

Ingredients

600 g chicken breast
4 slices white bread, crusts removed
250 ml milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion and 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tbsp ají amarillo paste
40 g walnuts, finely ground
30 g grated parmesan
Salt, pepper, ½ tsp cumin
300 g cooked white rice and 4 small boiled potatoes to serve

Method

Simmer the chicken in salted water for 20 minutes, cool in the broth, then shred it. Keep 250 ml of the broth.
Soak the bread in the milk, then blend until smooth.
Fry the onion and garlic in the oil until soft and golden, add the ají amarillo paste and cumin and cook for 3 minutes.
Stir in the bread mixture and the reserved broth and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes until thick. Add the walnuts, parmesan and shredded chicken and heat through; season.
Serve over rice with sliced boiled potatoes.

How to make it lighter

Use semi-skimmed milk and half the walnuts and parmesan — the sauce stays creamy thanks to the bread.
Serve either rice or potatoes rather than both, and add a green salad.
Fry the onion in 1 tbsp oil instead of 2 — 1 tbsp oil ≈ 120 kcal.

History

Ají de gallina is a classic of Lima’s criolla cooking. It is often said to descend from creamy colonial-era dishes thickened with bread and nuts, adapted with the native ají amarillo pepper; originally it was made with an old hen (gallina). Today it is one of the best-known home and restaurant dishes in Peru, usually made with chicken.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →