Name: Papas a la Huancaína (Potatoes with Cheese and Chile Sauce)
Yield: Serves 8 as an Appetizer or Light Lunch; Makes about 3 cups/720 ml Sauce
Ingredients: 1 cup/240 ml. milk; 4 fresh or jarred amarillo chiles (⅔ cup/80 g); 2 cups/225 g crumbled queso Oaxaca or queso fresco; 1 tbsp. kosher or fine sea salt; Kosher or fine sea salt; ¾ cup/105 g coarsely chopped red onion; ½ tsp. granulated sugar; Freshly ground pepper; 1½ lb/680 g petite Peruvian purple potatoes; 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced; 3 tbsp. canola or other neutral oil; 4 saltine crackers, crushed; 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered lengthwise

Preparation info

Serves
8
as an Appetizer ; Makes about 3 cups 720 ml Sauce

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Roots

By Diane Morgan

Published 2012

About

This humble potato dish, with its creamy, vibrant yellow sauce, is from Huancayo, a mountain town some six hours by car from Lima. The region claims to be home to more than three thousand potato varieties, and the distinctive sauce was created to celebrate the prolific tuber. In some areas, the sauce is made from the rocoto chile; in others, the amarillo chile is used. The sauce is reasonably easy to make and can also be served as a dip with crudités. Markets selling Latin Ame