Ají de Gallina (peruvian Chili Chicken)

Ingredients

• 1300 g chicken
• 120 ml of olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 8 cloves garlic
• 1 chicken stock cube
• ¼ loaf bread
• 110 g of chopped pecans
• 110 g parmesan cheese
• 1 can evaporated milk
• 1.6 kg rice
• 4 hard eggs
• 6 potatoes
• 120 g black olives

Steps

1. Boil the chicken in salted water together with the stock cube.
2. Remove the bones and break into bite size pieces, keeping the resulting chicken stock.
3. In a saucepan, heat the oil and sauté the onion, garlic, and finely chopped chili peppers and add salt and pepper.
4. Fry this until the onions are cooked and golden.
5. Soak the bread in two cups of the stock from the boiled chicken.
6. Place in a blender for a couple of minutes.
7. Add the resulting liquid to the saucepan.
8. Cook slowly for ten minutes.
9. Cook slowly, stirring to thicken.
10. While the Ají de Gallina is cooking slowly, boil the rice: first fry the garlic for a couple of seconds.
11. Add the rice and the salt, then add the water.
12. When the water starts to boil, let the rice cook in a closed pot very slowly for about 20 minutes or until the water has completely evaporated (hint: to cook ‘peruvian’ rice: cook a cup of rice in two cups of water).
13. Back to the Ají de Gallina: add the chopped pecans, grated cheese, and chicken pieces.
14. Cook until it has a thick creamy texture.
15. About five minutes before serving, add the evaporated milk and continue cooking on low heat.
16. Serve over the boiled rice and garnish with halved potatoes, eggs quartered lengthwise, and olives.