Ocopa Arequipeña

Ingredients

• 800 g waxy potatoes, scrubbed
• 4 dried ají mirasol, stems and seeds removed
• 2 fresh ají amarillo, deseeded
• 1 red onion, cut into quarters
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 100 g roasted unsalted peanuts
• 40 g huacatay leaves, or 3 tbsp huacatay paste
• 200 g queso fresco, crumbled
• 8 soda crackers
• 150 ml evaporated milk
• 5 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, for boiling
• 12 black olives

Before you cook

• Pull the stems from the dried mirasol chillies and shake out all the seeds.
• Cover the dried chillies with just-boiled water and leave them to soften for 20 minutes.
• Quarter the red onion and peel the garlic cloves.
• Pick the huacatay leaves from their stalks and discard the woody stems.
• Crumble the queso fresco and measure out the evaporated milk.

Steps

1. Put the potatoes in salted water, bring them to the boil and simmer for 25 minutes until tender.
2. Drain the potatoes and set them aside to cool.
3. Boil the three eggs for 9 minutes, then cool them under cold water and peel them.
4. Drain the softened mirasol chillies and rub off their loose skins with your fingers.
5. Heat 5 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.
6. Fry the onion quarters and garlic cloves for 6 minutes, until browned at the edges.
7. Add both the soaked mirasol and the fresh ají amarillo and fry for 4 minutes more.
8. Scrape the whole panful into a blender, oil and all.
9. Add the peanuts, huacatay, cheese, crackers, evaporated milk and salt.
10. Blend for 90 seconds, until the sauce turns an even, smooth khaki green.
11. Taste for salt, then thin the sauce with a little more milk until it pours slowly from a spoon.
12. Peel the cooled potatoes and slice them thickly onto a serving platter.
13. Flood the potatoes with the ocopa sauce.
14. Halve the boiled eggs and set them on top with the olives, then serve at room temperature.