509782 Tue Apr 15 16:06:53 -0700 2008 14 31 Home Cooking 0 3597755 Please help! I have been searching for the Peruvian green sauce ever since I visited several restaurants in the Kendall area in Miami. The green sauce was served with the bread. It is absolutely delicious! I have found numerous recipes with mayo, lime, jalepeno, lettuce, olive oil, mint and salt. These ingredients are not authentic as Peru does not use jalepeno or mayo in their cooking. I was told the authenic recipe calls for: Huacatay - Peruvian plant Aji - Peruvian Spice Oil Kosher Salt Lime Can anyone verify this recipe? Where can I buy the Huacatay or the Aji? Any help will be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!! Tue Apr 15 16:06:53 -0700 2008 25101 keithlca 1 3599254 Keith, I'm assuming you're talking about "aji de huacatay". First - here's my recipe for it, we make it all the time in our restaurant: Ají de Huacatay 1 rocoto pepper 1 hot chile pepper (Peruvian aji amarillo is commonly used) 1 cup of huacatay leaves light olive oil or another relatively neutral oil (corn, sunflower...) salt Puree the peppers and leaves together, adding oil until you get a smooth puree - it was less than a ½ cup. Add salt to taste. As to where you might find the ingredients in Miami, I can't help there, though it would be hard to imagine them not being available. Huacatay (which is, in English called "Amazon Black Mint") is used alot in Peruvian cooking and I know that there's at least a small Peruvian and Bolivian community in the area. Wed Apr 16 06:43:11 -0700 2008 3597755 30506 Casa SaltShaker 2 3602677 THANK YOU SO MUCH, Casa SaltShaker! I am definitely going to try this recipe. I live in Southern California. I will see where I can get the huacatay leaves. Again, thanks!!! Wed Apr 16 22:40:34 -0700 2008 3599254 25101 keithlca 3 3631081 Latino groceries that carry Peruvian items usually have jars of huacatay 'pesto'. They also have aji - Peruvian chiles. There are 3 common types: rocoto - very hot, red, apple shaped (also called manzana in Mexican use) amarillo - yellow, medium heat aji-panca - dark red, mild (similar to the mild Mexican ones like ancho) They are available dried, jars of puree, and some whole canned ones. paulj Fri Apr 25 21:24:38 -0700 2008 3602677 12139 paulj 4 3631266 Thanks for the info. I have no luck finding the Huacatay leaves or plant. Do you know where I can buy this plant or the seeds in Southern California? Sat Apr 26 01:38:12 -0700 2008 3631081 25101 keithlca 5 3631570 Have you done a search for online seat catalogs? Also this page might be useful http://perufood.blogspot.com/2006/10/huacatay-indispensable-andean-herb.html Sat Apr 26 08:07:28 -0700 2008 3631266 12139 paulj 1 3712822 I am sorry to say that both recipes are wrong, very close, but wrong. I am peruvian and the recipe is very simple Aji amarillo Huacatay leaves ( here is seattle we buy them frozen, don't use the paste becasue it has vinegar and different things added to it) evaporated milk cheese (feta) first you need a pan. you put there the aji amarillo without seeds or veins, then you add some peanuts ( natural not salted or anything) and then the huacatay leaves. you dont need any iol for this you just burn a little bit the 3 ingridients. when they are a little toasted, you put these in a blender adding the evaporated milk, a little bit of salt, pepper and the cheese. You start blending and then because it is going to be a little thin, you start putting crackers, regular ones ( no buttery or salty) until you see it taking a thicker consistency. then you try it and see if you need any more salt. This is the authentic recipe and it i snot a secret because this is how peruvians do it and we are more than happy to share it with the world! Thu May 22 14:21:30 -0700 2008 3597755 194489 chocdove 2 3779380 ChocDove - Where are you buying these frozen? I live in South Seattle and have been trying to find some of the ingredients to make Peruvian food for a while now. I agree the paste is not as good. I'm also trying to find a good recipe for papas causas - in case you happen to have that in your back pocket too... ;-) thanks for your help! Fri Jun 13 19:13:47 -0700 2008 3712822 200637 GrinPrincess 1 3961480 Hello dear friend.... I'm from Peru and I used to live in Miami.. that I know there is a place called "LA BODEGA" and is also a restaurant...(Kendall Drive) they have a little market with some peruvian stuff. It's so hard to find the fresh herb HUACATAY, because the plant couldn't grow up in this area, but I'm pretty sure you can find in JARS. The huacatay comes blended and definetly you have to make it with the YELLOW PERUVIAN CHILI PEPPER. Now I live in Palm Beach Gardens and I found a store that they have whole frozen yellow peruvian chili in little bags. To be honest with you I never tryed that sauce with bread like the way you tried before. I have a recipe calledd OCOPA A LA AREQUIPENA it's sort of like a PAPA A LA HUANCAINA. Well, that ocopa is so delicious (LIKE A DIP, but you have to eat it with boiled potatoes) and I'm gonna make it this weekend for my friends and family, I wish I could make it with fresh ingredientes, but that helps. The recipe is: 3/4 cup of Whole Toasted Peanut. 3 - 4 onces of Cream Huacatay (From the jar) 2 - 3 onces of Oil. 1 pound of White Cheese (Fresh white cheese) 1 small onion chopped 1 - 2 cloves of garlic 2 yellow chili pepper without without seeds and veins. 1 can of evaporated milk salt and pepper Boiled Idaho potatoes until tender, lettuce, Hard boiling eggs cut it in half, Olives. In a large hot pan, put the yellow pepper, peanut, onions, garlic. In a slow-medium heat let those ingredientes to get golden, stir ocacionally until the peanut started to get more than brown. Set a side. In a blender put: oil, with the milk and cheese. Blend the ingredients until gets creamy.... add the huacatay and the rest of the ingredients that you cooked in the pan.... blend all of them with salt and pepper as desired and served with the potatoes in slides and eggs, lettuce and olives. I tryed before this creamy ocopa like a dip, with corn, or hotdogs cutted in slides and my friends loved it. Fri Aug 15 20:28:47 -0700 2008 3597755 218862 mperu 2 3961620 Inspired by this thread, and some other threads on Peruvian sauces, I just put together a light green aji sauce. In the small bowl of a food processor (the type that comes with a mixer and/or immersion blender) I combined: a small handful of dry roasted peanuts a small handful of (stale) oyster crackers 2 pickled yellow peppers (from Chile) large pinch of salt 2 scallions, coarsely chopped some soft fresh Mexican cheese 2-3 leaves of Romaine lettuce blend till smooth, taste, and adjust taste with: a pinch of minced garlic a splash of oil a splash of vinegar another pepper blend, tweak some more. Transfer to a storage container, and 'lick' the processor bowl clean. Fri Aug 15 22:16:41 -0700 2008 3961480 12139 paulj 1 3963985 While finding the perfect ingredients is hard here in California, I make the following: feta cheese, 1 cup bunch cilantro green onion tops 1-2 cloves garlic, peeled 2-3 serrano chiles, de-stemmed water, only as much as needed to keep the blender running. Blend. More chiles, more heat. Try other kinds for different flavors. I use about a cup of feta, but usually eyeball it. Sun Aug 17 10:59:53 -0700 2008 3597755 24417 Food Tyrant 1 4501929 I have a recipe that I got from the waiter at a Peruvian restaurant in the LA area. He didn't give me measurements, but I have tweeked the amounts to my taste. combination of cream and milk, about a cup and a half 1-2 aji amarillo chiles ( I get frozen) 1-2 tablespoons of Huacatay leaves (I get frozen, but the restaurant grew their own!) Salt Queso Fresco or other mild fresh cheese. Thaw frozen and blend in blender. I have never used peanuts but I bet it makes the sauce even better so next time I will try. Fri Mar 13 11:48:12 -0700 2009 3597755 274137 zev khai 2 5184560 Hello Zev Khai I live in San Francisco and I was wondering if you could tell me where you get the Frozen Huacatay leaves? I am Peruvian and took my husban who is American to Peru and he just loved and Estofado de Carne en salsa de huacatay and he cannot stop talking about it. I know it is sold as a paste but it contains vinegar which changes completely the huacatay flavor. Thanks for your help! Sun Nov 15 21:08:35 -0800 2009 4501929 1124881 vera_galil 1 4502095 I realize that this a slightly dated thread, but the comment about 'not using mayo in their cooking' caught my eye. I have bought a Peruvian mayo; it comes in a handy soft pack with screw top. Great for packing in the picnic cooler. Peruvian chef, Felipe Rojas-Lombardi includes a recipe for Mayonesa de Leche (Mayo made with milk) in his 'The Art of South American Cooking' (1991). While mayo is not a part of Peruvian pre-Spanish cooking, it is just as much a part of Peruvian cooking as it is a part of Spanish cooking. From a blurb promoting that commercial brand (AlaCena) http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-167695562.html "Peruvians love their mayonnaise. They eat it with chicken, lentils, potatoes, corn, hamburgers--even on French fries. " Including 'kosher salt' in a list of supposedly authentic ingredients is also a bit suspect. Fri Mar 13 12:35:40 -0700 2009 3597755 12139 paulj 2 5184565 it's true! We Peruvian love mayoinnaise with everything especially with french fries!! When I came to the States and they would just offered me ketchup whenever I had a burger with fries I would always ak for mayonnaise and people looked at me like I was crazy! Sun Nov 15 21:10:35 -0800 2009 4502095 1124881 vera_galil