Restaurants often serve a small appetizer plate before the main dish in Peru – the entrada before the segundo. All too often, the menu boasts of entradas which include boiled potatoes with some type of sauce, the Huancaina sauce being one of the most popular.
Huancaina sauce is rumored to have its origins from Huancayo Peru where a woman made the sauce by crushing various ingredients with a large stone and serving the dish to workers in the area. Others say that the ingredients themselves come from Huancayo but that the bland of flavors was developed in Lima.
No matter where the idea came from, the sauce is a winner over potatoes, yucca, fish and many other things.
To create the typical Papa a la Huancaina, prepare a plate with lettuce leaves, boiled and sliced potatoes, hard boiled egg halves and black olives; then pour the sauce over the top.
Salsa Huancaina
makes about 3 cups
1 teaspoon of canola oil
4-6 Peruvian yellow peppers, seeded and cut into strips
1 red onion, cut into strips
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1/2 cup of evaporated milk
200 grams of queso fresco
2 or 3 soda crackers, crushed
1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add pepper, onion and garlic; sauté about 8 minutes or until they are golden brown. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.
2. Transfer to a blender. Add evaporated milk and puree until smooth. Add queso fresco; puree again. Thicken the sauce by adding a few soda crackers before blending a last time. The sauce should not be too runny but be pourable.
This sauce sounds interesting. I was looking at the ingredient list and wondering what cheese you would suggest I use if I can’t get queso fresco. Looks delicious.
Oh, I am so excited about this! Papa a la Huancaina is one of my absolute favorite Peruvian dishes, and I’ve been looking for a good recipe for ages! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Do you know of a good substitute for the yellow peppers? I don’t know if I can find them here. Also, what exactly is queso fresco?
Can’t wait to try this!
I’ve never come across Peruvian yellow peppers to my knowledge – is there a similar chile that could be substituted? I think I could just nibble on this and make it a meal of its own
This looks delicious! I bet it is fantastic over potatoes.
Over potatoes . .. sign me up, that looks grand.
When I look up the Peruvian yellow peppers, it suggests using aji amarillo paste found in Latin food stores. I take it that is a pepper with some heat.
And it looked like the pepper was actually more orange than yellow. How is it the sauce stays so yellow?
I have a thing for hard boiled eggs in savoury dishes, yum!
What are the Peruvian yellow peppers like? Sweet or hot?
Anything with queso fresco has to be good! The pictures are so pretty.
Yum! Everything looks so good and I love the photos, very vibrant!
This looks delicious. I love the Peruvian yellow peppers – I can’t get them very often in Boston!
Wow, it looks like the dish and the sauce are coming out from the screen right to my mouth. ¡Que rico!
That sauce sounds good!
This sounds so awesome, fresh and garlicky! Especially with potatoes and eggs, yum. And I love the avocado in there.
Thanks to all for your interest and great questions.
Peruvian Yellow Peppers or Aji Amarillo is crucial for most Peruvian dishes. Aside from finding them at a Latin market in your town, I am doing some checking into online sources. The peppers are not sweet but are medium in terms of spice.
As for queso fresco, I purchase that at Sam’s Club when I am in the US and just saw a recipe to make it at home.
I will be posting more info on these ingredients and online stores as soon as possible!
Nice to read about something completely new. The huancaina sauce sounds like it could get a lot of use in my kitchen. Thanks!
mmmm these pictures make me soooo hungry! i miss this delicious dish!
Wow, that looks so good! I am definitely going to copy down this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
My hubby and I recently visited a Peruvian restaurant and I thought it interesting how many dishes were served with boiled potatoes.
That sauce looks fantastic! I’m keeping the recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Rosa
Hello I am Peruvian, the yellow peppers are hot and delicious, there are like a chili, and the queso freso is the white cheese, the papa a la huancaina is unique because there aren’t other dishes with this taste, I invite you to taste it.
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If you cant get yellow pepper, any type of chile as jalapeno will be fine and if you need to add yellow color little bit of turmeric will be good, Buen Provecho
Although something like the jalapeno would add some heat, the taste would certainly be different. ~Gretchen
Thanks for the recipe! I am 11 years old and I am in a home school co-op taking beginning Spanish. Each one of us students had to choose a Spanish speaking country to present a report to the class in Spanish first then in English. I chose Peru. Our final day we celebrated by bringing a dish that represents the country we each chose. I chose ‘Papa a la Huancaina.’ The recipe sounded good, and it tasted great! We loved it! Thanks again for the recipe.
Muchas gracias
hey gretchen– i just made this for a school potluck. turned out great– just like it’s supposed to!
i know the other teachers will LOVE it! thanks!
This is a favorite and always a winner! I love papas a la huancaina with pollo a la braza. I can never ever get enough of those two. How long have you been making this?
I have been trying various versions of it over the last six years of living in Peru. ~Gretchen
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I lived in Peru for 12 years and my grandma used to make this dish. I found dried aji ammarillo, can I just soak it in water and use it the same as fresh?
I have used the reconstituted aji amarillo (known as aji mirasol) when I have not had access to fresh aji amarillo. Although the taste is slightly different, I prefer it over jarred aji amarillo. Enjoy! ~Gretchen
hi my
boyfriend is from peru i am looking for one recipe sause red and hot other one is green sauce and hot please help
lena