This salad is excellent because it has lots of ingredients and all of them are great. This Peruvian Salad has roasted new potatoes, quail eggs, olives, “queso fresco”, corn, pecans, avocado and Huancaína sauce. It’s to die for!
Huancaína sauce is a Peruvian sauce that is made with Peruvian yellow chilli, queso fresco (like a pressed ricotta), oil and saltine crackers. Here I’m sharing my recipe for it that is the one my mom used to make at home and the difference is that it doesn’t use any crackers. Instead of crackers, it uses MORE CHEESE. This is because the answer to any problem is always more cheese, lol! The Huancaína sauce is perfect to have at hand to eat with potatoes, chips or as a dip. The classic dish where it is used is “papa a la Huancaína” or Huancaína potatoes.
There are two Peruvian ingredients in this Peruvian salad recipe that could be tricky to get a hold of outside Perú: Peruvian corn (large and white kernels) and the yellow chilli. Here in Chile, I get Peruvian corn kernels frozen, so I just need to boil them and done. In other countries, it’s not as common to find them but you can replace them with the yellow sweet corn. As for the yellow chilli, it’s generally easy to get it outside of Perú in a paste form. You can find it in Latin stores or on Amazon if you have the service where you live. What you do need to consider is that homemade yellow chilli paste isn’t spicy but store-bought once usually are.
Ingredients
For the huancaína sauce
- 100 g Peruvian yellow chilli paste or 2-3 fresh Peruvian yellow chillies
- 100 g queso fresco or ricotta
- 100 ml canola oil or other vegetable oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Evaporated milk a drizzle, only if necessary
For the salad
- 400 g new potatoes cut in quarters + olive oil, salt and pepper
- 8 quail eggs
- 60 g Peruvian corn kernels about half a fresh corn cobb. You can replace for the small, yellow sweet corn
- 60 g queso fresco cubed, or replace for feta or crumbled ricotta
- ½ avocado in cubes
- 30 g pecans chopped, or walnuts or almonds
- 8 Alfonso olives cut in quarters lengthwise
- Baby rocket leaves
Instructions
For the huancaína sauce
- If you have whole chillies, cut off the ends, open them in half lengthwise and use a spoon to scrape out the seeds and veins and discard them. Boil the chillies for 10-15 minutes or until you can easily peel them with your hands. Discard the skin and place them in the blender with the rest of the ingredients for the Huancaina csaucesasaSi tienes ajíes enteros, córtales las puntas, ábrelos a la mitad y raspa las venas y pepas con una cuchara. Descártalas. Hierve los ajíes por 10-15 minutos o hasta que puedas pelarlos con la mano. Descarta la piel y ponlos en la licuadora con el resto de ingredientes de la huancaína menos la leche. Puedes reemplazar este proceso por pasta de ají que tengas lista anteriormente o comprada.
- Licúa los ingredientes hasta que esté muy suave. Recuerda usar una espátula para raspar los lados de la licuadora cada cierto tiempo.
- Ajusta el nivel de sal a gusto y si está muy espesa corrige con un chorrito de leche evaporada.
Para la ensalada
- Mezcla las papas con el aceite de oliva, sal y pimienta y llévalas a un horno precalentado a 180°C por 20-30 minutos o hasta que estén bien doradas. Retíralas y reserva.
- Hierve agua en una olla pequeña a fuego alto e inserta con cuidado los huevitos de codorniz usando una espumadera para que no se golpeen con el fondo. Cuenta 3 minutos desde este momento y retíralos a un bowl con hielo para detener la cocción. Da lo mismo si los huevos estaban en la refrigeradora o no. Pélalos y córtalos a la mitad
- Pon el choclo en una olla con agua fría a fuego alto. Cuando hierve tapa la olla y son 2 minutos si estaban congelados o 5-8 minutos si eran frescos.
- Todo debería estar a temperatura ambiente antes de servir. Pon las papas en la base del plato y acompaña con los huevos de codorniz, choclo, queso fresco, palta, pecanas, aceitunas y hojas de rúcula / arúgula.
