Peruvian Potato Salad (papas a la Huancaina)
This popular potato salad (papas a la Huancaina) is as delicious as it is colorful. Perfectly tender potatoes are combined with a creamy dressing made with spicy yellow pepper paste and queso fresco. It's served with hard-boiled eggs and black olives.
Servings 4 servings
Ingredients
Yellow pepper sauce:
- ⅓ cup chopped onion
- 2 tablespoons olive oil to cook the onion
- 6 tablespoons yellow pepper paste store-bought or homemade; see Notes below
- 9 ounces queso fresco see notes below
- ½ cup evaporated milk or whole milk
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 or 4 water crackers or saltines
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon lime juice
Potatoes:
- 2 pounds baby or small potatoes skins left on
- 2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil for the potatoes
To assemble:
- 4 eggs hard-boiled
- ½ cup of black olives to serve
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley to serve
Instructions
- In a skillet, sautée ⅓ cup chopped onion in 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat until lightly golden.
- Add 6 tablespoons yellow pepper paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
- Use an immersion blender directly in the pan or transfer the mixture to a blender.
- Add 9 ounces queso fresco, ½ cup evaporated milk, 3 or 4 water crackers or saltines, salt and pepper to taste, and ¼ cup olive oil. Blend until smooth.
- Add ½ teaspoon lime juice and check seasonings, adjusting if necessary. If you want a thinner consistency, add a few more tablespoons olive oil.
- Meanwhile, cook 2 pounds baby potatoes in a large pan of salted water. Drain, transfer to a large bowl, add a couple of tablespoons olive oil, toss and let cool.
- In a serving bowl put potatoes and toss with some of the pepper sauce.
- Add some more sauce, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley and arrange 4 hard-boiled eggs, cut into quarters, around the edges of the bowl. Scatter ½ cup black olives on top.
- Serve with a bowl of extra sauce drizzled with olive oil.
Notes
Potatoes: use small potatoes if you can find them. They have a better structure. But the potatoes you normally use for making your favorite potato salad will work.
Yellow pepper paste: you can make a batch and keep it in the fridge. Here's a link to a homemade yellow pepper paste recipe. Or you can buy aji amarillo sauce online since the Peruvian yellow peppers might be hard to find.
Black olives: do use them. They add to the final dish.
Queso fresco: it should be somewhat crumbly.
Substitutions: though they are not exactly the same, you can sub a mix of regular yellow pepper with habanero peppers (for heat, or any other spicy yellow pepper you like), and the queso fresco for firm ricotta with some cream cheese. It will work once you blend everything.
Evaporated milk: I use regular whole milk when I don't have evaporated. It works just fine.
Hard-boiled eggs: put eggs in regular tap water with a sprinkling of salt (this prevents the white from escaping in case of the eggshell breaking while cooking), and cook for 10 minutes exactly after it starts to boil. Drain, rinse in cold water for a few minutes and peel.
