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Carapulcra
Carapulcra: Chincha's dried-potato stew with pork, ají panca and ground peanuts
Older than Peru itself, carapulcra comes from the Afro-Peruvian kitchens of Chincha, south of Lima, where it is cooked in big pots for saints' days and family lunches and served next to a mound of sopa seca, a pairing locals call the 'matrimonio'. Pieces of papa seca, potato that has been boiled, sun-dried and broken into nuggets, are toasted and simmered with pork shoulder in a brick-red sauce of ají panca, garlic, cumin and ground peanuts, until the potato swells into chewy, savoury lumps and the sauce turns thick and nutty. Most people skip toasting the papa seca, and the stew tastes flat; the dry pan is where the flavour comes from. Chef's tip: stir often in the last half hour and add hot stock a ladle at a time; papa seca drinks liquid and catches on the base without warning.
- Total time
- 95 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
To serve
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Method
0/8 doneStep 1: Toast 9 oz papa seca (dried potato) in a dry frying pan over a medium heat, stirring all the time, until it smells like toasted nuts and darkens a shade.
6 minStep 2: Cover the toasted papa seca with warm water and soak until it softens on the outside but still has a firm core. Drain.
20 minStep 3: Season 1 ½ lb pork shoulder with 1 ½ tsp salt. Heat 3 tbsp vegetable oil in a heavy casserole over a medium-high heat and brown the pork in two batches until well coloured on all sides. Lift out.
10 minStep 4: Lower the heat to medium and fry 2 red onions and 6 garlic cloves in the pork fat until soft and golden.
8 minStep 5: Add 4 tbsp ají panca paste, 1 tbsp ají amarillo paste, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 cinnamon stick and 3 cloves and fry, stirring, until the paste darkens and the oil turns red.
4 minStep 6: Return the pork, add the drained papa seca and two-thirds of 4 cups pork or chicken stock. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer on a low heat, stirring every 10 minutes.
30 minStep 7: Stir in 2 ⅞ oz roasted unsalted peanuts and the rest of 2 ¼ cups pork or chicken stock a ladle at a time, simmering uncovered and stirring often, until the papa seca is tender and chewy, the pork falls apart and the sauce is thick enough to hold a trail from the spoon.
25 minStep 8: Fish out the cinnamon and cloves, check the salt and serve with 1 ⅓ lb cooked white rice and 1 bowl salsa criolla.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 520 kcal
- Protein
- 31 g
- Carbs
- 38 g
- Fat
- 27 g
- Fibre
- 5 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does carapulcra take?
- About 95 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 75 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of red onions?
- White onion or shallots, same amount (soak raw onion in cold water for 10 minutes to soften it).
- What can I use instead of garlic cloves?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
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