Carapulcra

Dried potato toasted dry before it is soaked, then stewed with pork until it drinks the whole pot.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains chicken stock, pork.

Ingredients

• 500 g papa seca, dried potato
• 700 g pork shoulder, in 3 cm cubes
• 150 g pork belly, diced
• 3 tablespoons ají panca paste
• 2 tablespoons ají amarillo paste, as on its own page
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 80 g roasted peanuts, ground
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 cloves
• 1.5 litres chicken stock or water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• salt and black pepper
• boiled rice and salsa criolla, as on its own page, to serve

Method

1. THE DRIED POTATO IS TOASTED DRY BEFORE IT IS SOAKED. Papa seca goes into a dry pan over a medium heat and is turned until it smells of toast and has darkened a shade -- six or eight minutes -- and only then is it covered with water to soak. That toasting is where carapulcra's particular smoky, nutty flavour comes from. Soaked straight from the bag, the stew is perfectly edible and tastes of pork and chilli with some potato in it, and the thing that makes the dish is simply absent.
2. AND THE SOAKING WATER IS KEPT THIS TIME. Unlike the chuño on the chairo page, papa seca's soaking water carries the toasted flavour and goes into the pot. It is the only part of the dish that cannot be replaced later.
3. IT DRINKS FAR MORE LIQUID THAN LOOKS POSSIBLE. Half a kilo of dried potato will take a litre and a half of stock and ask for more. Add it in stages and keep a jug of hot stock beside the pot; run dry and it catches and scorches in minutes.
4. AND IT IS STIRRED FROM THE BOTTOM, often. The potato settles and sticks, and a scorched layer taints the whole pot. A heavy pan and a wooden spoon.
5. THE GROUND PEANUTS GO IN NEAR THE END. They thicken it and add body; in from the start they catch on the base and go bitter.
6. IT IS DONE WHEN A SPOON LEAVES A TRAIL AND THE POTATO HAS GONE CREAMY at the edges while still holding some shape. About an hour and a half, and it is better the next day.
7. Papa seca TOASTED in a dry heavy pan over a medium heat 6 to 8 MINUTES, turned constantly, until it smells of toast and has darkened.
8. Tipped into a bowl, covered with warm water and SOAKED 1 HOUR. The water kept.
9. Pork shoulder and belly patted dry, seasoned, and browned in the oil in a heavy pot in two batches. Lifted out.
10. The onions softened in the fat 10 minutes, then the garlic 1 minute.
11. The ají panca and the ají amarillo paste, made as on its own page, and fried 3 minutes.
12. The cumin and cloves in, then the pork returned.
13. The drained potato and ITS SOAKING WATER added, with enough stock to cover by 2 cm.
14. Simmered gently 1 HOUR 15 MINUTES, stirred from the bottom every 10 minutes, with hot stock added as it thickens.
15. The ground peanuts stirred in and cooked 15 MINUTES more, until a spoon leaves a trail. Tasted and salted. Served with rice and salsa criolla as on its own page.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Peru · All recipes