Peruvian aguadito de pollo.
We already gave you some tips and tricks to get rid of your hangover. But every country has its own traditional dishes to make the process go faster. We like to give you a taste of the international anti-hangover cuisine. In this episode we give you the recipe for a Peruvian chicken soup called aguadito de pollo.
As true Latin people are supposed to Peruvians love to party. And with partying comes of course drinking. Besides a lot of beers Peru has it’s own strong drink called pisco, which is made from grapes. The most common way to drink it is in a cocktail called pisco sour. Besides pisco this mix contains lime juice, syrup and egg white. Anyhow, it’s a great drink, but in the morning sometimes your worst enemy. Especially when mixed with large amounts of beer.
Luckily Peru has a great cuisine and even an anti-hangover medicine is serious business. To make aguadito de pollo takes quite some work, so you might want to do this before going to party. You’ll thank yourself in the morning. The process goes in two stages: first you prepare the chicken with stock. Later you use this as ingredients for the actual soup.
Ingredients for stock:
A whole hen
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
4 till 4,5 liters of water
1 large yellow onion
4 cloves of garlic
2 medium carrots (chopped)
2 stalks of celery (chopped)
1/4 cup of ginger (peeled and sliced)
salt
hint of white pepper
2 leaves of bay laurel
Ingredients for the soup:
The pieces of chicken
Pot of stock
1 tablespoon olive oil (extra virgin)
Small red onion
3 cloves of garlic (cut up real small)
1 red bell pepper (in some countries named paprika)
1 bottle of lager beer
2 cut yellow potatoes (the Peruvian yellow potatoes are different from the ones usually sold and served in Europe)
1/2 cup of white rice
1 ear of corn (optinonal is an extra cup of hominy or dried corn)
1 cup of chopped cilantro (Chinese parsley)
1 cup of peas
1 tablespoon of rocoto pepper paste (aji rocoto)
Salt
Preparation of the hen with stock:
Wash the hen and remove the organs. Than cut it up and remove the back side for other use. Season the chicken you have left with salt and pepper.
Heat up the vegetable oil and brown the chicken on both sides, than take it out of the pot. Put the onion in until they start to color. Than add the carrots for another 2 or 3 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger for another one or two minutes.
Lay the hen back on top of the vegetables and fill up the pot with water. Than add the celery and bay laurel.
Let it boil and cover the pot with just a small ventilation hole. Lower the fire and let it stand for 3 to 3,5 hours until the meat falls from the bone. Remove the scum and oil on top sometimes.
Remove the hen from the stock and allow it to cool. Remove the skin and cut the meat further up. Put the stock in a separate pot and let it simmer.
Preparation of the soup:
Heat up olive oil in the original pot and fry the red onions in it. Than add the bell pepper, rocoto paste and garlic for two or three minutes more. Poor in the beer and let it cook until the alcohol is evaporated.
Put the stock back in the pot and bring to a simmer. Than add the potatoes and rice and let it cook for about 15 minutes. After that put in the corn. After ten minutes add the cilantro and pieces of chicken for 2 or 3 minutes more. Season the soup with salt and pepper and it’s ready for serving.
Micky Bumbar
Lords of the Drinks 