The Carapulcra is an ancient dish; maybe the oldest peruvian stew. It contains dried potatoes, chilis, peanuts, cumin and, in this case, pork (it can be chicken or both). Originally, the carapulcra was made in clay pots; this custom is still kept in Chincha, a city in Ica (south of Lima) and in some restaurants. In Ica, the carapulcra is served next to the sopa seca (dry soup) – in despite of its name, it’s not a soup but a special way to cook the spaguettis (we’ll see it later). Return to the age of Incas with this recipe for 8 people.
Ingredients:
- 400 g (14 oz) of dried potatoes (papa seca)
- 1 kg (2.2 lb) of pork chop (without bones)
- 100 g (3.5 oz) of toasted and ground peanuts
- 50 g (2 tablespoons) of ground garlic
- 3 tablespoons of aji panca in paste (in the link you’ll know how to make the paste).
- 2 tablespoons of aji Mirasol in paste (the same for this)
- 1/4 cup of red vinegar
- 1 cup of dry white wine
- 3 ground soda cookies
- 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
- 1 tablespoon of cumin
- 1 litre (4 cups) of beef stock (it can be made with a bouillon cube)
- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup of port wine
Preparation:
Brown the dried potatoes in a frying pan. Soak immediately in water for 30 minutes.
Cut three quarters of the pork in big pieces; the rest in small ones.
Mix the vinegar, pepper, cumin, aji panca, aji mirasol, garlic and salt. Use this mix to marinade the pork for 30 minutes.
After it, fry the big pieces of pork until it gets brown with 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. Remove them and fry the small pieces in the same oil.
Pour the remaining oil in another pot, add the other 1/2 cup and the rest of the marinade ingredients. Fry for 2 minutes on a medium flame.
Add to this preparation the stock, the wine, water and the dried potatoes (previously removed from the water).
Cook on a low flame, stiring occasionally, for 90 minutes. Add the pork and cook 30 minutes more until all gets cooked.
When it’s finishing, add the peanuts, the ground soda cookies and the port wine.
Serve with white rice (or, as we’ll see, with sopa seca).
Note: Some people, to emphasize the sweet of this recipe, add a little of chocolate (we recommend Sublime with peanuts).
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Technorati Tags: Recipes, Peru, Peruvian Recipes, Recipes with Pork, Recipes with Potatoes, Main Courses, Papa Seca, Carapulcra.
Blogalaxia Tags: Recipes, Peru, Peruvian Recipes, Recipes with Pork, Recipes with Potatoes, Main Courses, Papa Seca, Carapulcra.
Where do you find the dried potatoes for this dish? I’ve only ever seen them in packaged mixes, such as potatoes au gratin.Are they the same? In other words, could I just buy a package of that, and discard the other things in the package if they aren’t already mixed in? Also, do you have a link to somewhere online I could purchase those peppers needed? Or, is there a substitute? I live in Arizona, where there are many Mexican markets with tons of Mexican peppers.
Thanks for the info, this dish sounds really good. I know my bf would love it, as he loves spicy foods, and I’m thinking I could use vegetable stock instead of beef stock as he’s vegetarian. I KNOW he’d love this.
Oh, I just noticed it calls for pork. I still would like to try it, I could add pork to mine and a meat replacement to his? (And, pork is MY favourite meat!) I think the meat replacement would work with all the other flavours going on. Plus, the peanuts add a ‘meaty’ flavour to things too.
Are THESE the potatoes called for?
http://www.tienda.com/food/products/l-vg-05.html
I didn’t see the peppers there though. Please let me know if there are any substitute for them.
Thanks again.
Carolina,
You can see a bag of dried potatoes here. If you go to Google Images and write “papa seca”, you’ll get more photos. Maybe you can buy the dried potatoes and the peppers via internet or by phone in some peruvian food store.
You can try to prepare it with a little of soy meat (I’ve never tried it, but I think it can work).
Good luck!
Carolina, go to
http://www.labodegaperuana.com/
they are based in Miami but they ship all over the states. I add some chicha or pisco 10 mins before shutting off the burner to give it a little acidic taste, it truly is a delicassy.
mmmmmm que delicioso
Yummy!!!!
Aqui en Melbourne-Australia no hay tiendas peruanas para comprar la papa seca tonces lo compramos de sydney. Que rico es este plato
Hi people I was looking your question about the caiguas Im from Peru so I miss my peruvian food I live en usa,, Wisconsin so it too dificult to get that ,someone that help to me where I can find the caiguas.. Please help me
Karina
Hello I live in Brisbane Australia and I miss this dish so much…I´ve been looking for freezed dried potatos all over my city and I cant find any so I decided to make them on my own.. I found some websites that show how to make them however I would like to know what will be the best method to make them at home
Hi, I know what you mean with caiguas, well in New York we can find the big italian peppers, those are very very similar to the caiga, what you do is to put in the broila until they get gold and take them out and fill them up with the meat. yami yami !!!!!! very similar to peruvian caiguas you will enjoy. good luck
If anyone lives in NYC, you can find the dried potatoes at Mi Tierra supermarket on Roosevelt Avenue and 86th Street in Jackson Heights. They also have the peppers and pretty much anything else you will need to cook any Peruvian meal.