Chicken the Peruvian way!

Eating good food is, to me, one of life's greatest joys, and I will never punish myself for it.

Miriam Shor

Have you ever had one of those meals that’s so delicious, so memorable you actually dream about it, you dream you actually make it yourself and it’s just as delicious and memorable? No? Maybe it’s just me, maybe I am kinda weird about food!!

I’ve said it before but one of the joys of living in London is that it’s become the global village of food, you can find food from all over the world with an authenticity that’s hard to beat even in the cuisine’s natural home.

A few weeks ago, some friends and I tried a new, to us, Peruvian restaurant in Soho, it was lovely however, I had a chicken dish there that was TO DIE FOR! I’ve had Peruvian chicken, aka pollo a la brasa, or simply “charcoal chicken.” several times before, it’s a bit of a fav for me, I love the crisp, flavoursome, smoky skin, its succulent, juicy flesh and the, positively addictive rich green sauce that accompanies it. So, when I saw it on the menu, I had to have it and wow, was I in for a treat!

I don’t wish to sound pretentious however, the best version of this I’ve eaten was from a street food vendor in Lima, I’m not sure if it was the fact I’d not eaten for a whole day, the fabulous atmosphere or the simplicity, I was hooked from the first mouthful!

Sadly, Lima is a bit of a trek from London so to find this little gem was mana from heaven!

Apparently, Peru has a Swiss national to thank for its most popular chicken dish, which incidentally has its own day on the Peruvian calendar (July 21). In the 1950s, Swiss expat-turned-chicken-farmer Roger Schuler was on the verge of losing everything. In desperation, he set up four tables in his farm home and advertised “all you can eat” spit-roasted chicken for only 5 soles (about £1.15) to local workers. Today, La Granja Azul (The Blue Farm) seats 450 patrons at its hacienda on the outskirts of Lima; chicken – still “all-you-can-eat” – is served with thick-cut chips and a green salad. And the price is still only 55 soles (about £12.80!).

Lucky for us, when Peruvians emigrated to North America and Europe in the 1970s and 1980s, they brought this culinary treasure with them, God love them!

Anyway, with the dream still fresh in my mind and the sun smiling at me from the skies and glinting off the barbecue in the back garden, I decided to have a go myself and tried to find a recipe that I could at least use as a base. Thanks to Google, I found what looked like a good one and printed it off! In fairness there are a few differences from the traditional Peruvian version. The ingredients for Amarillo paste, a yellow chili pepper paste with a fruity taste and mild to medium spice does not grace the shelves of your average Waitrose or Sainsbury’s, in addition I could not for the life of me find any huacatay (black mint) to make a paste however, reading up about it, Cilantro, (Old India Coriander Leaves) has a very similar flavour profile and I’m delighted to say with the global reach of Amazon, you can buy it online relatively inexpensively! Alternatively, you can use fresh mint but my suggestion is that it can overpower the dish so, use slightly less than suggested

So, here’s the recipe;

If you have a spit roasting thingy for your barbecue you can do this with a whole chicken, I don’t so I made it with chicken thighs.

Ingredients;

Eight Chicken Thighs, preferably boned but with the skin on.

For the Marinade/Rub

Five cloves of garlic coarsely chopped

2 teaspoons of Himalayan Pink Salt, (again, amazon is your friend and I use this for cooking all the time now!)

2 tablespoons smoked paprika

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon Amarillo paste

2 teaspoons huacatay paste, (if you can’t find huacatay paste simply bind the Cilantro with a little olive or avocado oil)

Juice of 1 lime

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil

For the Green Sauce

4 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped

3 spring onions, trimmed, white and green parts coarsely chopped

2 jalapeno chilis, stemmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped

Juice of 1 lime

75g of fresh cilantro leaves

150ml mayonnaise (buy it, don’t make it!!)

50ml of sour cream

1 tablespoon Amarillo paste

2 teaspoons huacatay/Cilantro paste, or 4 fresh mint leaves

Himalayan Pink Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

I know it seems like a lot of ingredients however, it’s just a matter of putting them together then throwing them on the Barbecue.

Put all the ingredients for the Marinade/Rub in a large mixing bowl and combine with the chicken thighs, leave to marinate for at least four hours, overnight if you’re more organised than me.

Put all the ingredients for the Green Sauce in a food processor, blitz and leave to one side to serve with the cooked chicken.

Place the marinated thighs on a medium heat barbecue, cook for around 15 to 20 minutes and serve with a light salad, chips and the Green Sauce.

Really easy, go on, I dare you, give it a go!!

What’s on this week?